When the stars cease to shine
by AiryAquarius
Summary: What happens when 18 year old heartthrob/model Kai hiwatari gets saved from certain doom by a nobody Tala Ivanov? Will sparks fly? Read to find out! Kai x Tala, AU. Yaoi. Chapter 11 up!
1. Stroke of Luck

**Hey! This is might be a bit long (I'm not sure how long yet. Heh). Hope you like it.**

**I've edited the chapters a bit but they're only small changes so you don't need to read the entire thing again!**

**Disclaimer- I don't own beyblade.**

**Warning- Yaoi in later chapters. Don't like, don't read.**

_**When the stars cease to shine**_

Chapter- 1

Tala Ivanov stared at the poster on his wall, at the face of one of the world's hottest supermodels at the age of 18: Kai Hiwatari.

Tala wasn't really into celebrities, infact he was disgusted by the way how every detail of their life was covered by the press and read and talked about by people. But the thing about Kai was that his history was some sort of mystery, just like he was. No matter how hard those paparazzi tried, they just couldn't get anything juicy about him. They knew nothing beyond the fact that he was the heir to the Hiwatari fortune, lived with his grandfather Voltaire Hiwatari in his estate somewhere outside Moscow after his parents died in a car crash, and had been introduced to the world of modeling at a very young age. He had a private home tutor, and rarely stepped out of his house unescorted. He didn't go to wild parties at nightclubs, didn't do drugs (not as far as the media knew), didn't get into controversies and fights, was single (again as far as the media knew), he had legions upon legions of fans, and had graced the cover of every magazine that was worth reading. He was an interesting topic, the object of everyone's fantasy. This was one of the main reasons why Tala liked him enough to put up his poster on his bedroom wall. The other was that Kai was just too damn gorgeous to be ignored in the middle of some magazine, and he had the most amazing ruby eyes Tala had ever seen.

He had this poster for almost three months now, and was somehow falling for the handsome blunette he barely knew every time he looked at it. "How do you manage to be so mysterious?" He wondered out aloud, reaching out to the poster from where he sat on his bed. "How do I manage to be so foolish? Falling for a guy who doesn't even know I exist? I'm no different from those deranged screaming fans I despise!" he fell back on his pillows with his arm over his eyes, exasperated. "The only consolation I have is that I don't squeal and scream and faint when he makes a rare public appearance." He sighed and yawned, stretching and arching his lithe physique. "Life's so boring! What would you do if you were bored?" he asked the boy on his wall, as if he would give him an answer. "Look at me! Reduced to talking to posters! Damnit… I should go get drunk…" He got up and went to the bathroom in an attempt to try and freshen up.

After selecting a pant and shirt from the mess that was his wardrobe, Tala looked at the clock. It read 9.45. "Perfect. I wasted an entire Saturday without any effort. I must be some sort of specially gifted person." He got his keys from where they sat on top of his TV and waltzed out of his small one bed room apartment. "Don't get robbed while I'm away!" He had somehow gotten into the habit of talking out loud to the objects in his house, and his house on the whole, while he was alone. He irritated himself when he did it, although at the same time he felt some kind of satisfaction. He felt absurd even as he thought about it.

"I wonder which bar I'll go to _this_ time?" He asked his keys as he bounded down the stairs two at a time. He lived on the fourth floor of a 5 storey building. And since most of the time the lifts didn't work, he had gotten used to using the stairs. Besides, it was good for his health. He didn't get as much exercise as he used to, apart from his weekly pub crawl.

**qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

This time he had some extra money as he had gotten a well-deserved raise. So he decided to go to one of those posh places, a longer drive away from his house than usual, but hey, he didn't care. He turned the volume on the radio just a few notches below the maximum, he sang along where he knew the lyrics, and hummed where he didn't. He was having a damned good time, and he wasn't even in the pub yet. "I wonder if I'll feel even better when I get my first drink?" this time it was his car. But he was feeling too good to get irritated at himself. So he laughed "Weird old me!" and continued on his quest for entertainment.

When he finally reached The Hazy Moon, the place was crowded beyond belief. Just the way he liked it!

He went over to the bar, and ordered some vodka, on the rocks. He just barely noticed the dark haired male sitting beside him, his cheek cupped in his palm, staring dejectedly at the empty glass in his hand as he swirled around the leftover ice cubes. He suddenly got up and headed toward the exit.

Just then Tala turned to see who had tapped him on his back, when his eyes fell on the black leather wallet that sat there on the seat. Without thinking, he just grabbed the wallet and took off to find its owner. He reached he parking space just to see a shiny black Mercedes pull away and into the road.

"Hey you! You left your wallet!" He screamed and flailed his arms but the car never stopped. He cursed as he opened the wallet to find a name or address. What he did find was rather surprising. "Well, I'll never!" He jumped into his car and pulled away, even as the guy from the bar yelled "Hey you need to pay for that you know! Get back here you punk!"

**qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

When Tala opened the wallet, he couldn't believe his eyes. There was a driver's license in the wallet. The person in the picture was breath taking despite the poor quality of the photo, his red eyes gleaming. "Just how on earth do you manage to be so gorgeous even in what can be described as the worst picture that you have ever taken?" He asked the person in the wallet. "I never thought this day would come during my entire lifetime…I must be blessed!" He grinned to himself as he glanced at the picture of Kai Hiwatari and at the same time tried to keep up with the Mercedes which was going really fast. He had lost sight of it by then.

He gave up trying to follow the car and just drove according to the mentioned address. Before long, he came across the Mercedes, which was parked on the side of the road, before a bridge which ran over a river. No one was inside. So he got out of his car. Scanning the road, and finding no one there as well, he headed toward the bridge. What he saw almost made his heart stop beating…

_************continues…**_

**Hm… Tala seems slightly kooky in this… Do forgive me if you didn't like it.**

**So, how is it? Please feel free to review and point out any mistakes I might've made. Thank you so much for your time!**

**Reviews are eagerly welcomed and appreciated!**


	2. Tala to the Rescue!

**Disclaimer-I don't own beyblade. I sure wish I do, though.**

**Warning- Yaoi. Don't like, don't read.**

_**When the stars cease to shine**_

Chapter-2

When Tala came up over the bridge, what he saw almost made his heart stop beating.

There stood Kai, his hands gripping the railing, leaning dangerously over them. Tala was not sure whether he was trying to puke or fall down, but he sure as hell didn't like what he saw. He couldn't see his face clearly, and was certain Kai hadn't noticed him yet. He was standing almost twenty meters away from him. Tala began running. "Kai!" he yelled, as the inebriated blunette began to sway and leaned over further. "What the hell? KAI!" just as he almost fell over, Tala grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from the edge and into himself, in a solid embrace as they both landed on the deserted road. He was panting hard, as he sat up and let go of the petite person in his arms.

"What the bloody hell did you do that for!" he demanded. "You could've gotten killed!" When he got no answer, he tried again, softer this time. "What were you trying to do?"

Kai simply turned away, refusing to meet his eye.

"Hey, are you all right? Do you feel sick?" He tried to catch his chin, but his hand was pushed away.

"Thank you." He didn't even look at him.

"That's ok. What were you trying to do back there?"

"It's nothing."

"What do you mean nothing? You could have died!"

"Who are you?" Kai finally turned, but his expression was almost angry, annoyed. His eyes were flashing as he glared at him. "Were you following me? What were you doing here? How did you know who I was? What do you want?"

This was not the reaction Tala had been expecting. Sure, he would have liked it if Kai just smiled that drop dead gorgeous innocent/naughty at the same time smile of his and asked Tala if he wanted to make torrid love in the backseat of his car as a token of gratitude. If not that, then maybe a smile and an invitation to have coffee at some at some high class place perhaps. At least a smile and a 'thank you'. Or just a smile. What he wouldn't do for that smile! But definitely not this. He had degraded him to the level of some cheap stalker! The nerve. It was only then that Tala noticed that Kai looked somehow different. There was something that looked like shark fins on his cheeks and his eyes were a different colour, almost purple. Almost as hot as the red ones, but not quite as enchanting. He found it in himself to speak nicely and hide the irritation bubbling up within him. He wouldn't yell back, no sir, and he would show Kai what a sweet, polite, decent guy he was!

"Hey, calm down okay? I'm Tala Ivanov. I found your wallet at the bar and I just wanted to return it to you. I knew it was you because I saw your driver's license. I'm not a stalker, and I'm not press. So you don't have to bite my head off, okay?"

"Ah- um- sorry then…" Ah, what a cute embarrassed blush! And the volume level was a lot lower this time. He liked it better this way. And was that a slight slur in his words?

"What were you trying to do?"

"You're a stubborn ass, aren't you?" Damn, he's gone back to being a loudmouthed jerk again. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.

"Don't change the topic!"

"Listen, I don't wanna talk about it okay? So why don't you just leave me alone, go back to wherever you came from, and forget that this ever happened? Good bye and don't bother me again!" with that he roughly got up and stalked back to his car. What the hell?

Now Tala was really mad. He had saved his life, for God's sake! And this was the thanks he got? He just wanted to know what he was doing, surely that wasn't too much to ask for! And besides, why was he behaving so weirdly? All sweet one minute, wanting to tear things apart the next. Just what was he hiding?

"Hey!" He chased after Kai and got there just as he got to his car.

"Now what?" he rolled his eyes, looking exasperated. Even in his anger, Tala couldn't help but notice that Kai looked adorable as he did that. Something was definitely wrong with him.

"I saved your life. Surely you can show me a bit more gratitude than that."

"Of course. Thank you for saving my life, and thank you for returning my wallet. There. Happy now?" Oooh… feisty…

"A bit more than that, please."

"Oh. So that's what this is about." He took out his cheque book. "How much do you want?"

Tala felt insulted. His features twisted into a scowl. "I don't want your money. Just give me the answer to my question." He could be pigheaded at the best of times. And a downright pain in the neck during the others. Now was one of the other times.

"I don't know you well enough to tell you that."

"We have the entire night."

"Oh come on! You can't be serious!"

"But I am! And tomorrow's a Sunday and thus a holiday and I don't have to wake up early so I will wait here for as long as it takes to get what I want out of you. So there."

"Damn you." And he sighed. He sure sounded down. So did that mean he would talk, therefore admitting defeat? He hoped so.

"Hmm… so are you planning on telling me anytime soon?" Kai looked so mysterious with those shark fins… hey, so are they tattoos and did he wear make up to cover them up, or are they just painted on? And what colour were his eyes really? He couldn't wait to get on with his questions. Hehehe.

"Do you want me to call the cops on you?" Sigh. This was getting old.

"Ahem, you're the one who had been driving under influence. If anyone's gonna get arrested, it'll be you." Ha! Take that, Hiwatari! "I should be the one calling the cops. You were the one driving like a maniac. And behaving like one as well. What happened to the famous Hiwatari Good Manners? It's all an act just to fool everyone, isn't it? You're just like all those other celebrities, a real jerk. All I want are a few words in exchange for my saving your life, is that-"

"I DIDN'T ASK YOU TO SAVE ME, DID I?"

Tala backed off quickly, as Kai slumped against the car and sat down on his haunches, clutching his head in his hands. He felt miserable, and the alcohol was kicking in again, making his head spin. Everything had been fine until this stupid guy had come into the picture. His mind felt clouded and his thoughts were distorted. He tried to get up but he failed, almost falling before Tala caught him, holding him steady. He felt woozy, like someone had hit him on the head with a sledgehammer.

"Ungh…" he could barely stand. Tala felt sorry for the state Kai was in, as he hugged the boy closer in an effort to stop him from crumbling to the ground. It was quite obvious he'd never had alcohol before, and the effects were quite new to him.

"Hey… I'm so sorry… I didn't mean for you to get all worked up about it, you know…"

No response.

"Do you want me to drive you home?" he tried to be a bit more helpful. This way, he would just have to say yes or no.

"C- Could you take me to a hotel?" His speech was slurred and it looked like he had taken a lot of effort to speak. Most possibly he was having a splitting head ache.

"Why?" Tala shouldn't have asked that, but his curiosity got the better of him.

"Any hotel. Just not my house."

"In that case, you'll come home with me. I'm not going to leave you alone in this state. No way in hell."

Tala helped Kai get into his own car, and went to his old beat up blue Volkswagen to retrieve his keys and lock it up. He could rest assured that no one would try to mess with the second hand car, but he'd be up all night fretting if he just left the Mercedes on the road like that.

**qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

As Tala drove back home, he wondered what had triggered such a reaction within Kai. He seemed fine till he said something about his putting up an act. He stole a quick glance at the male next to him. A part of him felt excited that he was in the same car as his object of desire (heck, who wouldn't be?) But he also felt sad for the dismal blunette. The purple eyes looked lost and empty as he looked at the darkness passing by. He looked like he was tired of life; there was an air of gloom around him. He didn't look like the confident Kai Hiwatari who had the world at his feet. He looked like a broken and lost soul who was in some serious need of comfort.

Before long they reached his apartment, and Tala got out of the car praying for the lifts to work. He went over to Kai's side and opened the door for him, and helped him out of the car. Slinging his left arm around his shoulder and holding his hip with his right, Tala led Kai inside to where the lifts were. Crossing his fingers, he pressed the down button on the panel.

After a few minutes, just as he was about to turn towards the stairs, the doors dinged open.

Sighing happily, he stepped inside, guiding Kai. When they reached his floor, he carried Kai in his arms, bridal style. Kai was too disoriented to do anything but clutch his collar like his life depended on it. Tala didn't complain. He _couldn't_ complain. Kai was going to be his for an entire night! All his dreams were coming true in a single day. He truly was blessed.

When they reached his door, Tala gently put him down and opened the door. Leading him inside, he switched on the lights and then lifted him up again. He walked over to his bed, laid him on the bed and pulled the covers over him, securely tucking him in. He would have to sleep in his couch tonight.

"Good night, Kai."

_************continues…**_

**So? Nice? Bad? Tell me what you think!**

**Reviews are always welcome!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Sleepover Night

**Thank you very much for the reviews. So here's the next chappie, hope you like it! And sooo damn sorry for the delay! Forgive meeeee… ^^**

**Disclaimer: I do not own beyblade or any thing associated with it.**

**Warning- Yaoi. If you don't like it, don't read it.**

_**When the stars cease to shine**_

Chapter-3

Kai woke up in the dark.

Well, that was funny… his lava lamp was always on his table, so it was never too dark in his room… Where was it?

And where was his glow-in-the dark digital clock? He didn't even know if it was day or night now.

Besides, something was wrong with his bed. It was normally very bouncy and his pillows were so soft, sometimes they almost suffocated him. Even though the bed he was sleeping on now was soft, cool and comfy, it wasn't as luxurious.

He realized that in his sleep he'd kicked the quilt off and was now feeling chilled. He tried to pull the collars of his super light silk nightshirt up to his ears…

…and came into contact with bare skin… WTH?

He wasn't wearing anything other than his under wear! Someone had taken off his clothes, there was no other explanation. He never slept in anything except silk. Who would dare to do such a thing? Grr… He was gonna make them pay…

His stomach rumbled. Weird… He was never hungry in the morning, mostly because he never missed dinner. Wait, what did he have for dinner…?

…What did he do after heading into that club yesterday? …

Shit, did he black out or something?

Could it be…?

A door opened and a guy stepped out, clad in nothing but a towel. Light was pouring from behind him, highlighting his slender frame with a halo of light. His red hair was the only thing he could make out about him. He said "Hey, you're up! Did you sleep well?" as if they'd known each other for years.

Kai didn't know what to say. So he screamed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"WHOA! Shut up before you wake the neighbors!"

Kai scrambled to cover himself up with the pillows, hugging them to his body. "WHO ARE YOU? WHERE ARE MY CLOHES? WHERE AM I? WHO ARE YOU?"

"Ah, you already asked that-"

"THEN GIVE ME THE GODDAMN ANSWER!"

"I swear I have a good explanation for all this! Just puh-lease settle down before the annoying bald guy from next door comes to investigate!"

Kai was sweating bullets; he'd never been so embarrassed in his entire life! Wait, there was one time he'd accidentally walked into his friend's dressing room while she had been changing…

Ok! Time to come back to the present, more pressing matter!

He was glaring at Tala from his spot on the bed as he walked around his room.

"Why did you take my clothes?" the volume was considerably lower but he was still mad, very mad!

"Well, you looked kinda uncomfortable so I took your clothes off." When the glare only intensified, he sighed and continued "Oh come on! I'm sorry ok? You were wearing skin tight jeans! Gimme a break!"

"So why did you take my shirt?"

"Dunno, just a spur of the moment thing, I guess?"

Kai snarled.

Tala got really pissed. So he answered with equal hostility. "Hey, I did nothing except take your clothes off, ok? I'm not that kinda guy! Sheesh, after all my effort to save you yesterday, this is the thanks I get! Man you piss me off."

No one had ever yelled at him before, except his grand father (Well that old geezer was always yelling at every one and every thing, so that didn't really count). For a moment, he just lost all expression and sat back down on the bed (He was kneeling before). "Y- You saved me?"

"Well, Duh!" and he told him the entire story of what had happened on the bridge the day before.

This was met with an expression of absolute horror. "I WAS ABOUT TO DO WHAT?"

"You don't remember anything at all?."

"NO! I don't remember a single thing!"

"Hmm… So I guess I'll never find out after all…"

"Huh?"

"Why you tried to kill yourself. Shallow as it may seem, I brought you here just so I could find out. Never mind about that now."

"Um… so this is your house? And what I'm sitting on is your bed?"

"Uh-huh."

"Can I have my clothes back?"

"Sure." And Tala handed over Kai's clothes which had been folded neatly and placed on the bed side table.

"Can you give me five minutes?"

Tala shrugged and walked out of his bedroom.

'Holy frikkin GOD! I almost died yesterday? Shit! Was I that drunk? Hm, I thought you get head aches after you drink… I don't seem to be having any…' WHAM! 'YOW! My head hurts! Me and my stupid mouth… Damnit!'

Putting on his clothes while trying to massage his temples at the same time, he went into the bathroom to splash some water on his face, wash his mouth and freshen up. His mouth felt weird. He missed his red toothbrush more than anything right now. "Oh man… I'm so screwed… big time… I hope grandfather hasn't filed a missing person complaint with the police… Ah shit."

He stepped out to take a closer look at where he'd been sleeping. It looked like a typical bachelor's pad: Messy, with clothes all over the place, shoes tossed under the bedside table. It was a small place. His bathroom was as big as this room.

**qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

Kai came out of the bedroom into the hall where Tala was sitting on his sofa (wearing a t-shirt and track pants). "Hey."

"Hey… Here's some food. I hope you eat buttered toast with jam. Heh."

"Yeah, that's fine… I just wish my head would stop hurting…"

"Wait, lemme get you some pain killers." and Tala went into the kitchen. Kai took the time to look at his surroundings. It was almost a copy of the bedroom, except there was a couch and a couple of chairs here instead of a bed. Tala returned holding a glass of water and an Aspirin. "Here you are." He was very grateful that he'd remembered to remove his prized poster from his wall.

"Thanks."

"Hey, your shark fins are gone!"

"My what?"

"I meant those markings you had on your cheek yesterday."

Kai's hand automatically went to his cheek. "Oh that. It's just paint."

"And your eyes?"

"They're actually red. These are lenses."

"Ohh ."

"So… you live here alone?"

"Yup!"

"It's nice."

"I bet yours is a lot better."

"You think… it's more of a museum than a house. Not a speck of dust anywhere, everything is organized and put away neatly. It's unfriendly, formal and uninviting. Not a warm, cosy dump like yours."

"Ahem, my house is _not_ a dump. It's just cluttered." Tala corrected, defending his home, sweet home.

"Ah- sorry…"

"It's ok."

Kai finished his bread "Thanks… um, what time is it?"

The red head craned his head to look at the clock in the kitchen. "It's, uh, 7.30"

"Oh damn, I should really get going… the old man's gonna be furious!"

"Your Grandfather is really strict, huh?"

"_Strict_ would be a dream come true! He's a nightmare! I'm pretty sure he's Hitler reborn. All that's missing is the funny moustache. He's always ordering me around: Don't go there. Don't do this. Don't eat that. Don't drink this. Don't slouch. Respect your elders. Respect women. Blah blah blah blah-di blah blah. You'd think a guy like him has better things to do like attend meetings or go through his documents or complain about a dust particle on the banister but noooooo. Hn. Stupid old Geezer! All he does is make my life hell." His short outburst was accompanied by a lot of hand waving and pacing around. Then suddenly he stopped. "Um, sorry about that…" he scratched the bridge of his nose in embarrassment.

"That's really nothing to apologize about." Tala was fighting the urge to crush the blunette in a bone breaking hug. It was very difficult.

"Uh, can I use your phone?"

"Sure."

Approximately 2 minutes later…

"Hello? Grandfather? … … I know, I'm sorry… … … I know, just give me a minute to explain… But- … … … look, I'm sorry, ok? I told you I was going to a friend's! … I can take care of myself _just fine_, grandfather … … … No! You cannot do that and you know it! … No, this is not my fault! … … … Well, I'm calling you now aren't I? … … … But … … … … (sigh) yes grandfather, I'm sorry and I'm coming now … … yes I'll be there in 15 minutes … NO! You will do no such thing! Grandfather!… No! Just- AAAARGH! BYE!" beep

"That old man is gonna die a bloody death one day… a very bloody death at my hands… Grrrrr…"

"Is everything gonna be ok?"

"Yeah… it will be, once I talk to him in person…"

**qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

Kai was silent during the entire ride. He just stared dejectedly out the window. Tala didn't say anything either, just because he didn't know what to say. Finally they came to where Tala's car was parked on the bridge.

"Thanks for letting me drive your car, she's gorgeous!"

"Don't mention it. Thanks for helping me yesterday."

"No probs." Tala smiled.

He got out and walked to his old blue car. Just like old blue jeans, comfy and familiar and warm. "Hey there, car…" he whispered, running his fingers over the bonnet.

"Good bye, then Tala." Kai sounded rather sad. It made Tala sad too.

"Well, you could call me sometime; we could have a drink or a walk, maybe?"

"We'll see…"

Tala moved to open his door. Suddenly he stopped and turned back to Kai. "Kai?"

Kai, who was also just about to get into his car, turned too. "Hm?"

"I read once in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and Proverbs, that There are those who never stretch out their hand for fear it will be bitten. But those who never stretch out their hand will never feel it clasped in friendship. Deep, ne?"

Kai smiled slightly. "Very."

_************continues...**_

**Quote by Michael Heseltine. I don't own anything, except a copy of Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and Proverbs. Ahaha.**

**How was this chapter? I'm dying to know! As always, your opinions and suggestions are eagerly welcomed and appreciated! **


	4. A Decision is Made

Ah, yes, I'm alive it seems. :P

So here's the fourth chapter of When the stars cease to shine (or WTSCTS) for short. I'm terribly sorry about the delay and all the energy you might have wasted while fuming about me. So… want a cookie?

Disclaimer: Yes, I don't own Beyblade or any of the characters associated with it, anyone who says otherwise is ill-informed, and if you see any unrecognisable characters, they belong to me. And oh, I make no money off this. I wish I could, though.

Warning: Shounen-ai, as in boylove.

_When the Stars cease to shine_

A Decision is made

Tala stared listlessly at his computer screen, repeatedly reading through the same data over and over again. He was supposed to be reviewing it, but he wasn't. No, he was busy daydreaming about a certain red eyed celebrity who had spent the night at his house.

Kai had yet to call him. He kept careful watch over his cellphone, making sure that it never left his line of sight. He made sure to charge it every time the battery fell by even one bar. He even took care to only sit in places where the signal was strongest. All this effort so he wouldn't miss it when Kai called.

Two weeks had passed already. All this effort, gone to waste.

By the Thursday of the second week, Tala even began 'willing' Kai to call him, alternating between giving his phone loving gazes to stinky eyes to desperate stares. Even his colleagues started keeping their distance from him (because obviously, a person who stares at his phone like that can't possibly be mentally stable).

Now, back to Tala staring at his monitor, where by now, the screen saver had appeared. Which, unsurprisingly, was a slideshow of Kai's best shots. (Consisting of practically every photo Tala could land his hands on, since he believed that Kai's EVERY picture was his best).

Now his stares became loving gazes, and just as a dopey grin began to form on his face, his supervisor dumped a large stack of files on his desk with a very loud 'thud'.

"Ivanov, stop slacking off! I need that file on my desk by evening! And stop making disgusting faces at the monitor!"

Tala continued to blissfully zone out, his grin becoming wider and dopier as he imagined sharing a cup of hot cocoa with Kai, by the fire, in his castle in the clouds on a stormy day.

His supervisor smacked him on the head with the first few files from the stack.

They were very thick files, and his supervisor was inhumanly strong. So of course, this got Tala's attention.

"OW! That hurt!"

"No shit, Sherlock. Now get to work or I'll throw your phone out the window!"

Tala glared at the female's retreating back as she terrorized a few more of his colleagues into doing their work.

After scowling at his boss for five minutes, Tala sighed and turned off the screen saver, sneaking one last look at his phone before seriously getting back to his work, reading through pages of coding to spot any mistakes. After all, the sooner he completed this, the sooner he could resume day dreaming about Kai without any further interruptions.

When it seemed like a long time had passed (but in fact was only 10 minutes), he stood, stretched and rubbed his neck. "I'm going for a walk."

Anna gave him a pointed look from her seat at the next cubicle. "Break is still 20 minutes away, you know. Boss will kill you."

Tala wiggled his eyebrows at her, using his tried and tested 'I'm-up-to-no good-but-you'll-cover-my-ass-won't-you-darling' grin. "Only if she finds out, right?"

Anna laughed. "Good luck with that."

Tala jauntily walked to the door, and was just about to reach it when his superior's voice cut through the clacking of computer keys. "Ivanov, where the hell do you think you're going?"

Tala cursed under his breath. "Ah, just to the washroom, boss!"

"You went 10 minutes ago, Ivanov!"

"I need to go again, boss!"

"Break is 20 minutes away, you can hold it. now Go sit back down."

"But boss… I really need-"

"Get back to work, Ivanov."

"But-"

"Now!"

Tala grumbled all the way to his desk.

Five minutes later found him on all fours, crawling toward the door while hiding between peoples' legs and desks. Anna nudged Peter and pointed. Peter kicked Yuri (discreetly) and pointed. Pretty soon almost half the room was staring at him, occasionally glancing at the supervisor's office, checking for any activity there.

When Tala finally reached the door, opened it sllooowly and crawled out, there was a collective exhale as everyone released the breath they were holding, making amused comments at how there was never a lack of entertainment at the workplace.

Tala stood upright again after he closed the door, mentally cheering his successful getaway as he power walked to the entrance, ready to bolt at even the slightest disturbance from his room. Luckily, there was none.

After safely exiting the building, he walked to a small park a few streets away, the place he usually went to when he felt like communing with nature (read: throwing rocks at water).

It was a nice, cozy place, lined with evergreens and a few oak trees, with wrought iron benches and picnic tables scattered around the paved walk ways and a small pond in one corner. Sometimes you could see ducks or geese swimming in it if they weren't too busy attacking someone. They'd leave you alone if you gave them crumbled bread, though. They were really clever like that.

There were no crazy birds there today, so Tala could occupy the seat nearest to the pond without fear of being mauled. He took his phone out of his coat and stared at it for a while, feeling its weight and how it fit into the contours of his hand, taking up a nice little rectangle shape.

He stared at the home screen on his phone, which was (unsurprisingly) a picture of Kai from an advertisement for underwear. This was a closeup, though, so only Kai's face and upper torso were visible, each plane and curve rendered in high definition. And the view was breathtaking.

Tala kept staring at the screen, but it didn't change. Meaning that he was not getting any calls from anyone, let alone the gorgeous blue haired man he was so smitten with.

"This is hopeless." He leaned back on the bench, tilting his head backward so it was hanging off the back of the bench. He shoved his phone into his pocket and covered his face with his forearms, blocking out the light. Tala chewed on his lower lip before he let out a long, tired sigh. This was hopeless, his brain understood that, but his heart didn't, still foolishly hoping that the model would call.

The logical part of his brain supplied him with some helpful pointers:

Kai didn't know his phone number.

Kai didn't know his e-mail id.

Kai didn't know his home address.

Kai didn't know where he worked.

Kai didn't know his license plate number.

Kai didn't know anything about Tala other than his name.

Kai was a supermodel and would have no interest in calling/meeting a person he knew nothing about.

Even if he did have the interest, Kai wouldn't know how to contact him because he didn't give him any of his contact details, did he?!

His heart said one thing: Kai could google him!

Tala internally headdesked, getting prepared for a mental war of Logic versus Hope.

His Logic spat out, why would he want to?

Hope replied dopily: because Kai needs a friend.

Logic sounded like he was grinding his teeth as he snarled: And where the hell did you get that impression?

From the car ride, of course!

Kai doesn't need a friend, and even if he did, why would he try to track down Tala?

Because Kai needs a person who will take care of him and treat him well and love him for himself and not for his money.

Whoa there, hold up! Logic said, incredulous. Where the hell did 'love' come from! We were talking about friendship!

But you know love is what you really want.

No! NO! Are you crazy?! We don't even know about making friends with him, and you're talking about loving him? Not the pansy ass crushes and all, but real, forever and ever with fairy dust and rose petals sort of love? ARE YOU CRAZY?!

Love is crazy in itself, Hope says serenely.

Gyaaaaargh! Stupid! STUPID! This is all just stupid and insane and stupid and brainless and crappy and shitty and stupid! So incredibly mind boggling-ly stupid!

Calm down, calm down. You said stupid six times already. You could have thrown in a couple of 'insane's and 'idiotic's and a few more swear words.

Don't make me strangle you...

Come on, I'm stating the truth here! I know this is crazy, but that doesn't mean it's impossible!

Where do you get this bullshit from anyway?

Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible!

Uhh... Okay?

Optimism is essential to achievement and it is also the foundation of courage and of true progress!

What the hell?

For they conquer who believe they can!

Another peep out of you and you're dying a slow and painful death! And you need to stop looking at your office calendar's "quote of the day" section. Who memorises that stuff anyway?

OI! It's up there so people can read it take encouragement from it to better themselves!

Tala took this moment to sit up straight and dissolve the conversation that was beginning to devolve into something meaningless, before letting out another tired sigh.

So that was that. He was crazy in love with Kai, and things were looking terrible. It didn't seem like Kai was going to get in touch with him any time soon, and Tala was already going insane at the thought.

What could he do now?

'Take the first step!' Hope spoke up again.

'Yeah. You want it bad enough, work for it. Optimism and all that jazz.' Logic supplied from beside Hope, sounding loathe to be in agreement.

'Mission: Get Kai, Phase one: obtain contact details!' Hope cheered. Logic huffed in exasperation. Tala smiled.

Yeah. He could do that. Now to head back to office and try to dig up info on Kai. Maybe Vitali could help him hack into Kai's facebook page. Yes.

'Plan initiate!'

Now all he needed to do was get back to his office and hope his boss didn't kill him with a medieval device of torture.

**********continues…

This chapter moves a little slowly without anything much happening. Now we get to know Tala's work place and how the people are around him, and a deeper look into Tala's... Thought processes. No Kai in this episode, though. *sad face*

And those quotes were taken from the back of a notebook I have. The source of quote 1 is unknown, quote 2 is by Nicholas Murray Butler, and Quote three is by John Dryden. The name Vitali is borrowed from Madagascar 3, 'cuz I was watching it as I wrote this chapter. Vitali is that hoop jumping tiger.

So, I'm really really sorry about the delay. I've been absolutely shitty and crappy. I really want to continue this, but I don't know if I will if no one's reading it. I'm going to write up the next chapter and keep it ready, and only post it if I get a review or a favourite or even a follow. Because if no one's gonna read it, I don't see the point in continuing it...

But I hope you guys do want to read it, because I promise I'll update once a week if you do. And no, I don't plan on slacking off like I've done so far. So...

You guys know what to do!

Thank you very much for reading, all your words of advice are appreciated!


	5. Hacking?

**Here's your next chapter, as promised! Aren't I good?**

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Beyblade or any of the characters associated with it, anyone who says otherwise is ill-informed****. A****ny**** and all**** unrecognisable characters****belong to me. And oh, I make no money off this. **

**Warning:**** Shounen-ai, as in boylove.**** Maybe some language as well.**

_**When the Stars cease to shine**_

Hacking?

It's almost six in the evening when Tala saunters over to Vitali's office, which is situated on the second floor of his building, along with the other people in networking.

"Hey Vitali?" He opens a door marked 'entry restricted' and peeks inside. "Vitaaaaliiiiiiiiii? You in there? I've got a favour to ask you... hey?"

He doesn't see anyone inside the large room despite the lights glowing. Hmm. It isn't so late that Vitali would have gone home already, but he isn't sure. Where was he?

He would have gotten here earlier, but his boss had forced him into finishing an entire file at ruler point.

He supposes he should be thankful that he got off with nothing but extra work and a some really profane scoldings, but really, his boss was so mean!

"What are you doing in here?" A baritone asks, and Tala nearly jumps out of his skin, like he was caught doing something he shouldn't be doing.

"Vitali! Jeez, you scared me!" He turns around to huff at his friend, who's leaning against the doorjamb with one hand on his hip and another holding a cup of steaming coffee, a disgruntled look on his face.

"You're not supposed to be in here, Tal. If you're found out, your boss'll tell my boss and he'll have my ass. I don't want that to happen again." Vitali sighs as he runs a large hand through his short, brown, spiky hair. "What did you want anyway?"

Tala sucks in a breath and holds a hand above his heart, feigning pain. "Vitali! How could you wound your friend's heart so! Do yo think I would come to you only when I needed something done?! You hurt me with your insensitive words, you dumbass!"

Vitali smirks at him "I dont _think_ so, I _know_ so. Just spill it already."

Tala sighs. "I need your help to ha-"

"Hell no."

The redhead glares at the taller man. "But you didn't even let me finish!"

"You were about tho say hack. I won't do it." The tall brunette says, calmly sipping from his cup.

"You don't know that! I could have said 'to harass my neighbour' or 'to have dinner with me' or any number of things!"

Vitali raises a slender eyebrow. "So you were about to say 'I need your help to have dinner with me'?"

Tala opens his mouth to retort, before the stupidity of what he just said sinks in. He huffs. "Okay so I was about to ask you to hack into Kai Hiwatari's Facebook account!"

The other man just stares at him with the most stupefied expression he can manage before he says "Are you stupid?"

"What?"

"You want to hack into _the_ fashion icon teen heartthrob supermodel billionaire Kai Hiwatari's facebook account."

"You missed 'most gorgeous being in the whole wide world'" Tala supplies, nodding like he's done something helpful.

Vitali is _this_ close from banging his head on the desk. Instead, he takes a deep breath before he proceeds to calmly and rationally explain to his crazy friend _just_ how crazy he sounds right now. He doesn't get that far. "That is the _stupidest_ thing you've ever said, and I've heard you say plenty of stupid things before. Are you crazy, Tala?"

"Come on Vitty, it should be cake for you! Remember the last time you helped me hack into my mom's account to remove my baby pictures from her albums?" Tala leaned into the taller man, looking up into the other's chocolate eyes with the most wibbly-wobbly puppy eyes he could manage.

"Ch, Tala, What the fuck?" Vitali pushes the slender man away, turning away to hide his discomfiture. "Don't be an idiot, Tal. Your mom wasn't a world-popular celebrity. Do you know the kind of trouble we could get into for doing something like that? The media would be all over this! We could be arrested! We could be sued! We'll lose our jobs!"  
"But I just need a phone number! Or an email id, or a skype id, or anything! I just need to talk to him once, just to give him my phone number. I promise it isn't for anything illegal or anything! I'm really sorry I'm bothering you like this Vitty, but I don't know who else to ask!" The redhead implores, clutching onto both of the other's hands.

Vitali dislodges Tala's hands, so now he's the one holding the other. He pulls him close and looks seriously into Tala's baby blue eyes. "Tala, I know you don't wanna do anything illegal, but do realize that hacking in itself is a serious offence, punishable by law. These high profile types don't take such invasions of privacy lightly. Most likely they'll report it to the police and then we'll have the cyber crime branch on our asses. Why do you want to talk to him anyway? He doesn't even know you. What are the odds that, even if you found his number and everything, that he'd actually talk to you instead of just writing you off as a psychotic stalker?"

Tala's face crumples even before the tall man can finish talking. Vitali hates doing that to his friend, but he hasn't any other choice. "Tala, please. You need to let go of this now. I know you really like Hiwatari and all, but don't you think this is all very far fetched?"

Tala bites his lip for a moment before he brightens again. "He won't write me off as a stalker."

"What gives you that idea?"

"Because he knows me!" Tala beams.

"How the hell does he know you?" The brunette asks, bafflement clear on his face.

"Because he stayed in my house one night when he was too drunk and didn't want to go home! I found him parked by the side of the bridge and I took him in so he wouldn't have to face his gramps when he was drunk off his ass."

Vitali just stares at him before he says, "Ok, now I'm certain we need to get you to a doctor."

Tala pulls away, the hurt showing clearly on his expressive features. "You don't believe me?"

"How am I supposed to believe you when you say such ridiculous things!"

"If you don't believe me, well, suck on this!" Tala crows, pulling out his cell phone and fiddling with it before he finds what he's looking for with a triumphant "Aha!". He hands the phone over so the other can see solid proof backing the redhead's claims.

"Are these... pictures of him... sleeping on your bed?" Brown eyes widen in absolute shock, looking at the phone, then at the grinning redhead, and back at the phone again. "Do you know how creepy this is?!"

Tala snorts before pulling the little device away. "Well, he looked so goddamned cute, lying there all defenseless and vulnerable and sleeping and stuff, how was I supposed to _not_take a photo or twenty? Isn't it adorable, the way his lips part just so when he exhales? Aww, hes just the sweetest thing, isn't he? I could cuddle him him to death!"

Vitali's expression could only be described as one of absolute horror. Well, shit. So Tala wasn't lying. What's he gonna do now? It's not like he can hack into the model's websites for his contacts, that's be suicide.

Hey, wait a minute! Why'd he have to hack into anything in the first place? Kai is a world-renowned model, so he should have plenty of fansites and the like. Almost every magazine would have information on him, and he would have his own pages on practically every social networking site, apart from having his own website.

Which would have contact details so people could enquire about modeling and interviews and the like.

Yes.

He grins inwardly before turning back to the redhead who is _still_ cooing at this phone.

"I think I know how to get his number..." He says, effectively snapping Tala's attention away from the phone.

The grins growing on both their faces say clearly that they are _not_ up to any good.

**q****pqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

After 3 hours of trawling through pages and pages and _pages_ of information, articles, and pictures of the famed celebrity, and trying a variety of numbers that were proclaimed to connect to him (but in fact connected to a bunch of smarmy men of questionable intentions), the duo hit jackpot. Apparently, Grampa Hiwatari was extremely protective of his heir, so all work contracts first went to him before they were finalised and only then did Kai come into contact with them. They manage to find one number, though, that belonged to Kai's personal assistant.

Vitali dials the number and waits, but the answering machine picks up. "You have reached Kai Hiwatari's office. Please state your business, we will get back to you shortly. Thank you."

He disconnects the phone and tosses it to Tala, who looks like he's about to burst from glee. "Satisfied?" he smirks, before adding, "You know you're buying me dinner to compensate for all this shit, right?"

"Yes!" the shorter man exclaims before launching himself at the other, wrapping him in a massive bear hug. "Thank you so, SO much, Vitty! You're the best! And I'll definitely buy you anything you want, if what you want is under hundred bucks."

Vitali chuckles and hugs him back, nuzzling into his hair. "Just be careful, Tala. You don't know about these high-profile types. And Voltaire Hiwatari is not someone you'd want to antagonise."

"I'll be careful. I know you think I'm insane, but I felt a real connection with Kai, you know? And I have a feeling he felt it too. I know it. It was like inhaling pixie dust."

The other laughs, a rich belly laugh that Tala hasn't heard in a long while. "Pixie dust! Oh Tala, you're killing me." They laugh again, together, and disentangle. Vitali tucks a few locks of crimson hair behind Tala's ears before trailing his fingers down high cheekbones, slowly traveling the underside of a soft, plump lip. "Sometimes," he says softly, "I wonder why I broke up with you."

Tala looks into his eyes and smiles, a soft, serene smile that's rarely seen on him. "Sometimes," he says, just as softly, "I do too."

_**********continues...**_

**Boy! we had a little twist in there at the end, didn't we! And look, just like I promised! The 5th chapter! This one moved a little slowly as well, and again, no Kai :( But don't worry, next chapter, Kai'll definitely be there! And Tala will too! I can't wait till the next few chapters, when the real shenanigans start... Hohoho!**

**I hope you're enjoying yourselves so far, me lovelies! I'm terribly sorry about any grammatical and spelling errors this time, because I was just too focused on getting this chapter out as a thank you to my lovely reviewers...**

**Than****k**** you so much for reading!**


	6. First Contact

**A big, big thank you to AmTheLion, Hibisha and GabZ for reviewing on the previous chapters, and all the others who favourited/followed this story as well. I love you guys, and this story is written for all those who've shown me support so far! It means a lot to me!**

**And yeah, Tala's turning into a stalker... I'm torn over defending him for the story and blasting him for doing something that goes against my morals... I hope he isn't too stalker-y, he's not actually going to call Kai and pester him like a real stalker... Uhm. Does he come as very stalker-y?**

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Beyblade. Actually, I think I'll stop posting this thing at the beginning of each chapter, it's getting tedious, and everyone knows I don't own anything anyway.**

**I think you don't need any warnings this far into the story as well, yes? On to the action! Hya!**

_**When the Stars Cease to Shine**_

First Contact

Tala had been walking on cloud nine ever since he got Kai's number. Well, not his number exactly, but his PA's. But he'd take any little bit he got, that's a desperate Tala for you.

Vitali dropped him off after they had dinner at one of Tala's favourite fast food joints, laughing and commenting on seriously random things, just like the old days. He could only be happy that Vitali didn't resent him after their failed relationship. He really did care for the brunet, and would have hated to make both of them feel awkward around each other.

Well, he had Kai's number now, all thanks to his sweetheart of an ex-boyfriend, and nothing could bring him down.

Vitty's warnings still echoed in his ears though, and he promised to himself that he would be extremely careful with his dealing with the PA, it was his golden chance and he would _not_ fuck it up, by the mercy of the gods.

But the Gods did not have any mercy, at least not for the redhead, it would seem.

He waited till it was nine in the morning to make the call, sitting in his car in his office's parking lot. The minute the call was answered, he said in his calmest and most businesslike voice, "May I speak to Kai Hiwatari, please?"

The line disconnected without so much as a peep from the other side.

Tala looked at his phone with an expression of shock, which quickly turned to fury, and then to acute frustration characterised by his trying to smother himself to death on the passenger side seat as he pounded his hands on the same, very childishly.

"Didn't go over well?" He heard a concerned voice ask, a very familiar voice, and looked up to see Vitali looking down at him with understanding in his eyes.

"Nooooooooooo!" he wailed, opening the door and moving fast to bury his face in the other man's stomach, his arms going around him in a vice like grip. "They cut the line! They didn't even ask who I was! They just cut the cal the minute I said I wanted to talk to Kai! They're so meeeeeean!"

Vitali rolled his eyes heavenward as he pet the distraught redhead. "There, there... You made a rookie mistake, Tal... Why did you directly ask to talk to Kai? You should know that people state their purpose and ask to set up an appointment if they want to talk to any celebrity!"

Tala looked up with his wibbly-wobbly eyes of a kicked puppy again, but Vitali quickly closed his eyes, turned away and blocked his ears with his palms before he could be assaulted by the manipulation devices from the pits of hell. "No. No way, Tala. You _know_ I was totally against this from the beginning, and I'm most definitely _not_ going to call Hiwatari's office and talk in your stead, no matter how hard you beg me to!"

Tala scrambled to take the other's hands away from his ears, hoping an ungodly amount of whining would make Vitali give in, if only to get him to shut up.

Tala was very accommodating when he was desperate.

In the middle of their impromptu not-exactly-wrestling match, Tala's phone rang.

Tala was diving into the car for his phone before the tall brunet could even blink, scrambling under the seats where he'd dropped in it his hissy fit.

There was a tense silence filled with nothing but the loud and slightly addictive beat of the Bollywood song that was Tala's ringtone, and Tala's barely audible curses. Finally, the song stopped and Tala's voice was heard. "Ye- ahem- Yes?"

The man standing outside the car bit back a laugh at the unnaturally high squeak that had been Tala's voice when he answered the phone. He reached into the car and plucked the phone from the redhead, putting it on speaker mode as he snickered soundlessly at Tala's glare.

"Hello?" the voice on the line said, and Tala's eyes widened comically and he flapped around a bit, only calming down when his friend whacked him on the head.

"Hello, is anyone on the line?" The voice said again, and Tala grinned like the moron he was, as he said,

"Yes, I'm on the line."

There was a nervous sounding inhale before the voice hesitantly asked, "Tala?"

Tala at this point had to use every last ounce of his will power to not just explode and blast off into the sky like a fire cracker. "Kai!"

Vitali looked dumbfounded, as Tala did his victory dance as best as he could from his odd position; half on the car seat and half off.

"Thank god," The voice, now successfully identified as Kai said. "I thought it was a wrong number."

"How did you get this number?" Tala asked, feeling incredibly giddy. Did Kai get his number from his secretary? Did he demand to know who called, hoping against hope that it was Tala? Did he threaten to fire her for not giving it to him?

"I found you on facebook." Kai said simply. "Do you realise that your phone number is up there for the whole world to see? That is a fiasco waiting to happen."

Tala and Vitali just stared at the phone, too shocked for words, before the taller man pulled away and practically ran to the other side of the lot, howling with laughter as he collapsed into his car and waited for the guffaws to subside, hoping the model didn't hear anything.

Tala, on the other hand, was stock-still as he digested that information. All his hard work, ruined! All his bragging-rights, ruined! His amazing plotline to their budding romance, ruined!

And that bloody Vitali was laughing his ass off across the garage! Laughing at him!

But what did it say, that the great heartthrob-supermodel-most-beautiful-being-on-Earth Kai Hiwatari actually went looking for him? The search was almost not a search at all, but the thought that Kai took such an initiative made his heart pitter-patter and his insides melt into goo.

Tala had never been so pissed off yet so pleased at the same time.

"Tala?" Kai said, his tone wondering and a little nervous.

"Oh, sorry, I got distracted for a bit there. What were you saying?"

There was a moment before Kai said, "You're the first person ever to say that to me."

"What, no one's ever apologised for getting distracted before?" When Tala thought about it, it sounded dumb, because hello, who would get distracted when the Great Kai Hiwatari was speaking to them?

"No, it's never happened to me before." The other said, sounding a little lost in thought. "Anyway, I thought about what you told me that day, about friendship. And I was wondering, if you might like to meet up with me sometime? Maybe a movie, or a coffee, or anything else friends do?"

Tala stared straight ahead, not comprehending the words for a moment.

Kai panicked. "I mean, I understand if you're too busy and you don't have the time, I'm sorry for being too presumptuous, I-"

"Of course I'd love to meet up! Stop apologizing already. I was just pinching myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming or something lame like that. As if I'd be too busy for a friend." Tala hoped his pleased smile came across through his words.

"O-okay, then!" and Tala could almost see the hesitant smile on the younger man's face. "Um, where do you want to meet up? I don't really know any normal places, I've only been to the expensive 5-start type cafes, and only for meetings regarding work, so I think it's better if you choose the venue."

Tala hummed thoughtfully, not surprised in the least. He knew Kai's words may have sounded uppity, but actually they only showed his relative innocence, or rather, his ignorance about anything that had to do with 'normal' people. If the tabloids were right, the young star had lived a very sheltered and spoiled life, he was a rich kid right to the bone, minus the bratty attitude most of them seemed to have. "How about I send you the address via text message to this number? This _is_ your number, right?"

"No, this is my office number. I didn't use my personal number in case it wasn't you I'd connected to. Can you write it down now if I told you?"

"Uh-huh, just give me a sec-" Tala mumbled as he frantically hunted in his glove compartment for a pen and a piece of paper. "Okay, tell me."

Kai recited his phone number, before asking "You won't give my number to anyone, right?"

Tala made an effort to sound offended. "How could you even ask that? I'd never reveal your number, even under the threat of death."

Kai scoffed. "Don't tempt fate, Tala. I wouldn't be surprised if someone decided to hack into your phone just to get my number. God knows how many numbers and accounts I've had to switch no thanks to those stupid hackers who have no sense of respect for another person's privacy."

Tala chuckled nervously. "Aha ha ha. Yeah, aren't hackers just disgusting?"

"Glad we share the same sentiments. So will Saturday afternoon be good for you? I'm not free anytime before that, and my next break only comes next Wednesday, and I'd rather talk to you sooner than that."

Kai's words triggered a warm and fuzzy feeling in the pit of Tala's stomach. "Sure. I'll be free on Saturday. I'll send you the address in a few minutes, 'kay?"

"Ok. It was nice talking to you. Bye, Tala."

"Bye."

Tala disconnected the line, and clutched the phone to his chest, stifling the urge to scream his joy to the world. He settled for bouncing over to where Vitty was still sitting in his car, and threw himself at the other man. "I'm going on a date with Kai!"

"Good for you, now could you please stop strangling me? Thanks." Vitali rolled his eyes as Tala pulled away and proceeded to perform his Super Special Ultra Hip Victory Dance.

Which was not really all that hip and was not so much a dance than a weird series of spastic movements, but Vitali didn't have the heart to tell that to the ecstatic redhead when he was feeling so hyped-up.

"We're meeting on Saturday! Isn't that amazing!" The redhead practically screamed into the taller man's face, his azure eyes blazing.

"You have work on Saturday." He frowned.

"Well, I'm just going to have to fall at boss's feet and beg her to give me the day off, then!" And the redhead turned and pranced away, leaving Vitali to lock both their cars, completely missing the concerned look cast his way.

_************continues...**_

**I see Tala as being a very carefree and rather kooky personality who enjoys living his life and having fun and being dramatic. It seems a little over the top and OOC as AmTheLion pointed out, but, I can't seem to change it. We'll see how his personality evolves as the story progresses and he becomes closer to Kai, and you've already seen a bit of Kai's personality in this chapter and the ones before. **

**Aanyways, I hope I'm not boring you guys, and remember, I love you all!**

**Thank you for reading!**


	7. Coffee and a Conversation

**Here's Chapter 7! Hope you enjoy reading about Kai and Tala's "date" :P**

_**When the Stars cease to shine**_

Coffee and a Conversation

The week seemed to crawl by at a snail's pace for Tala, who was acting fidgety and flighty and messing up everything he was doing. His boss had resorted to throwing things at him in an attempt to get him to concentrate, which only worked because she nearly poked his eye out with a projectile-pen, and he was too scared to risk his beautiful face again.

Even his colleagues were worried about him because he was more distracted than usual, even though half of them were sure that it shouldn't have been possible. Tala never ceased to amaze, that was sure.

Friday finally dawned, bright and cheery, and Tala marked it off on his calendar. Tomorrow was the big day! Tomorrow he would go on a date with Kai, the prince of his dreams, the angel ruling his heart!

But for that, he'd need to get permission to take tomorrow off. He could just skip going to office without prior information, but his boss would spit and roast him if he did that. He set about imagining different scenarios and different excuses that he could use as he went about his morning routine.

When he was pulling into the parking lot, he was thinking if a sister in labour would be more effective than a dying uncle. He would have said dying mother or father, but he'd already used those excuses before, and he was sure his boss would remember. Dead maternal and paternal grandparents were also out of the question, each of them being sacrificed for various purposes in the past year.

He supposed it was a good thing they all died before he joined this job, or he wouldn't have known what to do when they _really did die_ and he had to attend their funerals.

The minute he walked into his boss's office, she said "Your uncle had better not be dying tomorrow, Ivanov. We have a lot of work to do because of your stupidity all of last week."

Tala just stared at her.

Maybe his theories about her being some sort of protegee or relative of Satan weren't just theories after all?

"Well, what did you want, Ivanov?"

He took a moment to steel himself before he replied. "My sister just had her first child. As her only brother, I need to go visit her."

"And why is that?"

The redhead sputtered. He'd just said there was a baby! The first one at that! Who would refuse to let a doting uncle have his first look at his beloved niece/nephew! A cohort of Satan, that's who. "I just said why! It's my first nephew! I need to go and visit the family! I'm his only family on his mother's side, seeing as all his grandparents and grandparents are dead! And my I promised my sister I'd visit! She'll kill me if I don't go!"

His boss finally looked up at him from the file she was browsing through, pen stopped mid-scratch and hovering just slightly above paper. "Then you should have done your goddamned work this past week! Do you take me for a fool? Why should I accommodate you when you've done nothing but slack off and burden others with your work? It's only because your colleagues are such sweet people that they didn't say a word about anything. I'd have complained a week ago if I was in their place."

Tala made a mental note to take all his friends drinking tomorrow evening.

"But boss... Please... I really need to go... My nephew... He needs me..." He employed the best 'But Pwetty Pweeeasee?' expression he had in his arsenal.

His boss looked at him, let out an exasperated sigh, and nodded curtly.

Tala was struck speechless. His boss had... accepted?

That had been too easy. He thought _for sure_ he was going to have to grovel at her feet and offer an animal sacrifice or maybe something worse like take her out to dinner.

"Go before I change my mind."

"Right! Thank you so much, boss! I'll ask my sister to name her kid after you! At least the middle name. Not your name exactly, but a male versio-"

"Ivanov!"

Tala hauled ass away from the room and didn't utter a peep after that, pleased with his success.

**qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

Saturday at last.

Tala spent his entire morning in a whirlwind of frenzied cursing. He couldn't find anything nice to wear to his date/not-a-date. He couldn't find any good shoes. He couldn't find his hair gel. He cut himself while shaving. He ran out of shampoo.

When he managed to slip in the shower and narrowly miss hitting his head on the stainless steel tap, he was shocked into calmness.

He sat cross legged in his shower, enjoying how the cool water sluiced off his hair and ran down his shoulders and back, down his arms and legs. He raised his face to the spray, eyes closed in an attempt at calming himself.

He didn't need hair gel, he decided. He would go natural. The clothes he had were fine, he'd just have to match them up well. He could buy a new pair of Converse on his way to the cafe. And he'd just have to apply some cream on his cut and hope Kai wouldn't notice.

Okay. Now he had a plan. He got up, Turned off the water, and wrapped a towel around his hips and opened the door, shivering slightly when a cool breeze wafted in. Walking over to his messy clothes shelf, he dug around until he excavated a pair of faded blue skinny jeans with a triumphant "Yes!" He pulled on underwear before he wore the jeans, smiling at the way the soft fabric hugged his skin. He dug around a little more before pulling out a black button up which had neon green on the buttons and on the inside of the shirt, so when he rolled up the shirt, the green showed.

He took a hairbrush to his still slightly damp hair, blow-drying it till it was satisfactory to his fastidious tastes.

He smeared sun-protective lip balm on his lips, found a bracelet made of black wooden beads to go with the shirt, and his look was complete. He wore flip-flops, a hideous pair he didn't remember buying, but it would have to do till he got to the store to buy a pair of black Converse.

**qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

Tala fidgeted in his seat in the cafe, looking at the door every few seconds, expecting to see a head of dual-toned hair, and deflating every time he didn't. It had been ten minutes since he'd told a waitress that he was waiting for someone, and now she was giving him pitying glances.

He turned back to his glass of water, scowling at his reflection.

'One last time', he decided. 'I'll look at the door one last time.' With that, he turned to look at the door, and there came a wide eyed young man dressed in swanky clothes, looking anxiously around, searcing for something.

Kai.

Tala stood up, waving to catch the blunette's attention. The smile that bloomed on Kai's face when he saw Tala made the redhead's heart explode.

"Tala!" Kai exclaimed as he came closer, adjusting the white scarf around his neck. "I'm sorry I'm late. My schedule got disrupted at the last minute. I came here straight from a photo shoot. Do I stand out too much?" He looked at Tala through purple eyes, the shark fin like marking prominent on his face. People were looking at him curiously, admiringly, some a little lustfully. Some were even looking at Tala with a hint of jealousy.

Tala's ego was puffing up like nobody's business. He smiled, attempting to assuage Kai's doubts. "You do stand out, but not in the way you think. Your identity is safe, but you're going to get a bunch of admirers anyway. You look absolutely stunning."

Kai looked at him for a moment before he asked, "Are you hitting on me?"

Tala sputtered. "What!? No! Why would I do that?" Smooth Tala. Reeaally smooth.

Kai smiled slightly. "That's alright. I was just teasing."

"It wasn't very funny."

"Sorry."

The waitress from before arrived, giving a bright smile to both of them before taking their orders and leaving.

The two of them sit in a silence that's progressively turning awkward.

A few minutes later, the waitress returned with their coffees, and she placed Kai's coffee with a smile on her face, but when she looked at Tala, she made a worried face. "I'm rooting for you." She whispered, and walks away.

"What was that?" Kai asked, curiosity clearly visible on his face.

"Nothing. I didn't exactly catch what she said either," Tala lied, hating it, but not really having a choice to tell him the truth. He picked up his cup of coffee and added a liberal amount of creamer and sugar.

Kai watched him with a crooked brow. "I hope you don't always drink your coffee like that. You'll get diabetes in no time."

Tala huffed. "Yeah, well, I'll atleast die happy."

Then there wasn't any conversation again.

"So..." The redhead starts, unsure. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Ah." Kai set down his coffee. "I... don't really know."

Tala looked at the blunette. The doubt and misery that hung around his form was practically an aura. "That's ok. Then I guess you won't mind if start some topic?"

"Yeah, why not."

"So. Tell me a little about yourself."

"Like what?"

"You know, hobbies, interests, favourite food?"

"That's nothing you can't read in the mags."

"Ha. Then there's pretty much nothing you can tell me that a million other people don't know as well? That's kinda sad."

"That's not true!" Kai bristled. "There are plenty of things I could tell you that millions of people don't know."

Tala grinned. "Like what?"

Kai backtracked for a moment, just realising what he'd gotten himself into. Tala was a tricky guy. Well, he couldn't go back now, so might as well plough ahead. "My favourite breakfast cereal is Kelogg's honey cornflakes. I don't like skinny jeans, that's just something they made up to make me look cool. I much prefer cargos or other loose fitting things. I like corn on a cob, and my favourite author is actually Chekhov, not Dickens. And I absolutely hate vampires. I hate it when they make me dress up like one, and I hate anything to do with them. My favourite mythological beast is the phoenix. My favourite colour is red, and white. Black is pretty ok, and so is green, but I hate yellow. I like snow, I don't like rain. I think literature nowadays is mostly shit," He paused, taking a sip of his coffee into which he'd poured only one sugar. "but I read it anyways because I don't have much else to do."

Tala just sat there a moment, processing all the information that had just been dumped on him. "That... contradicts most of the information on the interviews."

"Yeah."

"Then how could you tell me to read the magazines to know your interests? You were trying to feed me wrong information!"

Kai smirked slightly, amusement in his eyes as he watched Tala's antics. "Yeah."

Tala huffed again, crossing his arms. "Okay, now it's my turn."

"But I didn't even ask you anything."

"That's why I'm taking the initiative myself." He stuck his tongue out, and Kai snorted a little laugh. Tala thought it was adorable. "I like cheerios in the mornings, and strawberry cornflakes in the night. I like blue, red and black. White's okay. I like neon colours, except neon pink, that's just a crime against nature. I love form-fitting clothes and flip-flops. I don't read much, I prefer to watch movies, mostly rom-coms or action thrillers. I like Bollywood music, pop and hip-hop. I like Beyonce and Shakira. I thought 'Beautiful Liar' was the best thing to happen to man kind, after fire, indoor plumbing and cheese-puffs. I like sunny weather, and I love snow because when it snows heally bad then they close the office and I get a day off. I think Vampires are really cool, but glittering ones are not. I'd like to have a pet wolf, or a boa constrictor, but pets aren't allowed in my apartment."

Kai's smirk was still on his face, in fact, it had widened a little. It had been quite a while since he'd been with someone as... refreshing as Tala. It was like a breath of fresh air to interact with someone who was opinionated but not a douche. He could get used to this. "Where do you work?"

"Hm? It's a software firm. Ever heard of Safeway Computech?"

Kai shook his head.

"Hm, I'm not surprised. We mostly do jobs that the bigger firms give us, so we're not that popular. I don't care, anyway. I like my work environment, and I love my colleages, and that's more than most people have. My boss scares the crap out of me, though. I'm sure she has something to do with the underworld."

"You mean, like the mafia?" Kai asked, eyes wide.

"What?! No! I meant like Hell and Satan and eternal damnation and stuff."

"Oh."

"But now that you mention it, maybe she does have some connections like that... Hm... I'll have to look into it."

Kai laughed. "You're weird."

Tala laughed back. "Oi, all great pople are!"

"I'm not."

"Hah, you are, you just don't know it yet!"

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well, you're friends with me, aren't you!"

Kai froze a second. That word again. _Friends. _How many people could he honestly call friends?

Not many.

And here was Tala, making jokes and teasing like they'd known each other forever, telling him he could call if he ever needed anything, calling him a friend.

And he barely knew the man.

"What? What is it?" Tala asked, noticing the blank look in Kai's eyes.

"Uh? Nothing. I was just thinking."

"'Bout what?"

"Well, you don't know anything about me. We've never met before, but you let me stay in your house the other day. And you made time in your schedule when I asked to talk to you in person without so much as a moment of consideration. And you call me your friend so easily..." Kai trailed off when Tala held up a hand with a serious expression on his face.

"I don't know where you got these weird ideas from. First of all, I'd never have left _anyone_ in that situation, even if it were my boss. And like I said, it really wasn't a problem. I wanted to talk to you, so I accepter your offer to meet. I call you my friend because I consider you to be one, and the time passed has nothing to do with it. Like I said, if you want to talk, or you need anything I can help you out with, I'll be here. Why do you analyze things so much? It's no good, I tell you."

There was a beeping noise, and Kai reached into his pocket to pull out his flashing phone.

"Oh crap."

"Is something wrong?"

"I'm late for my next shoot. I need to leave."

"When are you free next?"

"I should ask my secretary. I'll text you when I know?"

"Sure."

"Thanks for coffee. I had fun today, even though it was really awkward and we didn't talk much."

"Hey, maybe next time'll be better. Third time's a charm, or so they say."

"Let's hope these people know what they're talking about, then!"

Tala laughed, and watched as Kai walked out the door, turning once to wave just before he stepped out of the cafe, before calling his waitress.

He payed the bill and tipped her generously, before he stood to leave. "Than you for the luck you sent my way. I needed it."

"Anytime," she said, smiling. "you looked cute together."

And that comment was enough to carry Tala all the way till his next message from Kai.

_************continues...**_

**This is a long chapter! How did you think it was? Was it too boring? Was it stupid? Were some of the parts unnecessary?**

**Please tell me what you think! Reviews make my world go round.**


	8. To the Movies!

**But, Thank you very much for the review, Hibisha!**

**My sincerest apologies for not keeping up with my promises... My dog died last Sunday, and I felt absolutely wretched to write. I've just caught up with season 7 of Bleach, and I've been immersing myself in GrimmIchi in an effort to make myself feel better... And I've been neglecting my writing.**

**But I found so many brilliant fics... I wish they would be completed soon! I really wanna see how they end. Sigh. **

**I miss my dog. I had him for 13 years. Now my front porch feels empty without him in it.**

**Anyways... Now we move on to...**

_**When the Stars Cease to Shine**_

Chapter 8: To The Movies!

After their last coffee together, their correspondence had become a bit more frequent. Kai made sure to text him at least once a day, even if it was only a "good night :)". Tala didn't complain, of course. He was more than happy with what he got, and didn't ask for more. He made sure to tell the other that he was always available if he wanted to talk, but that was that.

_"I CAN BE YOUR HERO, BABY!"_

"IVANOV! How many times do I have to tell you TO CHANGE YOUR FUCKING RINGTONE?!"

"Sorry, Boss! I didn't count!"

Tala pressed the 'receive' button on his phone and ducked out of the way of a flying stapler, grinning as he did so. "Hello?"

"Hi, Tala."

"Heyy! How are you? It's been 3 weeks already since we last met, and you haven't even called till now! Don't tell me you're too busy for your friend!"

"You know it's nothing like that. Work is being terrible. And I text you everyday, anyway! You have nothing to complain about."

Tala chuckled lightly, liking the indignant tone of Kai's voice. "Alright, alright. And besides, I wasn't saying that you were ignoring me or anything. I was just teasing, you know?"

"Yeah, well, you're mean, always teasing me like that."

"But it's so much _fun_!"

Kai sighed on the other end of the phone, and Tala grinned.

"Anyway, I didn't call you so we could bicker like this. I got some passes to the new Johnny Depp movie that's releasing this Saturday. Are you interested in coming with me?"

Tala's eyes widened in utter disbelief. "Johnny Depp?" And you, in the same place? "Are sea anemones the coolest things ever? Of course I'm interested! Are you stupid, asking such ridiculous questions? Sheesh!"

There was a moment of silence before Kai responds, "So you really like sea anemones, huh..."

"Yeah, don't you?"

"Ehh, yeah, yeah. So anyways, I'll be coming incognito, so how about we meet up at the theatre entrance and we go in together?"

"Sounds good. What time?"

"Be there at six forty five sharp. The movie starts at seven, so don't be late, okay?"

"Oi! Don't go around underestimating my punctuality. Despite appearances, I'm really organised, you know!"

"Of course."

"Oi! Are you teasing me?"

Kai laughed, and Tala's brain sizzled a bit. "Bye, Tala."

And he disconnected the line.

Tala was grinning idiotically at his phone when Anna's voice caught his attention. "Ooh, is that a date you just spoke to?"

"Ahaha. Not really, it's just a friend."

"Sure didn't seem like it, the way you were practically throwing yourself at them." Peter smirked from behind Anna, scrunching his nose a bit when a few of her blonde strands tickled his nose.

"You were _flirting..._" She giggled, slightly pushing Peter away from her hair.

"I was_ not_." Tala scowled, crossing his arms across his chest.

Yuri walked past at that instant, rolling his eyes in amusement and exasperation. "Boss is looking at you through the blinds in her office."

He snickered internally as all three of them practically dove for their workstations.

**qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

Tala stood at the entrance of the posh cinema theatre, wearing dark blue jeans and a white T-shirt with a simple black blazer. He scanned the crowds with narrowed eyes, until his gaze landed on a head of slate gray and blue hair.

"Kai!" He yelled, unmindful of the weird looks he was getting. The other boy must have heard him, for he turned abruptly, eyes going wide at the sight of Tala and his frenzied waving.

"What are you doing?" Kai hissed once he got close enough to the red head. "Do you want to give me away? What were you thinking, screaming like that?"

Tala immediately realised his mistake, looking apologetic and chastised. "I'm sorry. I got a bit too carried away."

Kai huffed before flickicg his wrist, like he was waving away smoke. "Well, anyways. Let's get some snacks and head into the hall?"

Tala raised an eyebrow at the man whose eyes had a bright gleam to them. "You a big fan of Johnny Depp, huh?"

"Like you aren't?" Kai shot back, smirking at his friend. Friend. It felt so nice to think that.

"Yeah yeah. Let's get popcorn. None of that caramel coated stuff though. It smells weird and makes me sneeze."

"So weird." Kai laughed, but said nothing else as they walked to the refreshment counters.

After debating for a good five minutes over plain salted, cheese, and pepper-garlic popcorn they finally decided on cheese for Tala and garlic for Kai, along with two large glasses of orange fanta. They walk over to the door to the theatre hall, and when security asked them for their tickets, Kai handed over an envelope.

The guard raised an eyebrow at the pristine white card paper, the writing on it elegant and in NO way looking like a free voucher or coupon that one could win through a contest.

It was addressed to Kai Hiwatari, and a party of 10.

He looked at the two men looking back at him expectantly, and sighed. "Is either one of you Kai Hiwatari?"

Kai looked flustered, but when he spoke, he sounded calm. "No. I'm a friend of his. Since he couldn't make it to the premiere, he gave it to me because he didn't want to waste it. Is there a problem?"

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you in."

The shorter man looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head. "What do you mean, you can't?"

"Well, you see, this invite is specifically for , and is for special seats in the box. Since his name is mentioned and everything, I can't let anyone else take his place unless he himself calls and tells us to change the name on the guest list."

"What? But- you can't- how could- how dare-"

Tala dragged Kai away before his face exploded, shrugging his shoulders and giving the usher an apologetic grin.

"How dare he!" Kai finally yelled when Tala pulls him into the garage. "The audacity! I've never been so insulted in my entire life! So embarrassed! He just basically-aargh!" His face was red and he looked enraged, running a hand through his hair in his frustration, not even minding that he was ruining his perfectly coiffed hairdo.

Tala looked at the other man, worry clearly etched on his face. He'd never seen or heard or read that the Hiwatari heir had a quick temper, and a raging one that did not care for logic, at that. "You know, this was not that guy's fault."

"But he couldn't just deny us entry like that when we had the godforsaken invite with us!" Kai hissed, his eyes flashing.

"It's his job to do that. He could get into trouble if he disobeyed his higher ups, you know? Come on. Don't take it so personally. He didn't mean it like that. I mean, he doesn't even know who you really are!"

Kai silently fumed for a few minutes before he let out a loud huff and pinched the bridge of his nose. Then he proceeded to take a few deep breaths, eyes closed as he mumbled something under his breath. "I know. I shouldn't be so mad, but that was the most insulting thing thing that has ever happened to me."

Tala raised his eyebrows as a look of disbelief crossed his features. From what he knew of Kai, he didn't seem like the type who made such a big fuss over his ego. In fact, he'd seemed like someone who was a quite easy going. Something was not right here.

"You aren't _really_ upset just because the guy refused you entry, are you?" He asked, already having an idea of what the real reason was. "It's okay. We're friends here. I won't laugh or anything."

Kai squatted down to his haunches, burying his face in his hands. "It was so embarrassing! How could anyone be so _stupid?_!"

His voice carried a distinct whine to it, and Tala burst out laughing.

"You said you wouldn't laugh!" Kai yelled before rising and swatting the redhead on his arm, his face red with embarrassment.

Tala just laughed harder, one hand curling around his middle while the other held the roof of his car for support.

"Stop laughing!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

"Damn right."

"So what are we going to do now? I mean, it's only 7 right now, and you don't have to be home before 9 or so, right?"

"Yeah." Kai looked up at the ceiling for a while before he looked at Tala, contemplative. "What happens now?"

"Hm. You wanna go get some food?"

"Sounds good."

They got into Tala's car and straped in. As they came out of the parking lot, Tala turned to Kai with a question. "How did you come here?"

Kai gave him a 'duh' sort of expression before he said "In a chauffeured car. I told him to come pick me up once the movie ended. Which would be around eight forty five or so. I can arrange for him to pick me up from wherever we have dinner, it's not a problem."

"Uhm. Well, That wasn't what I was asking. I mean, do you you come as 'Kai Hiwatari' or do they know about the whole 'under cover' thing?" He said, emphasizing his name with air quotes, taking his hands off the steering wheel and making Kai panic for a second.

"Don't take your hands off the wheel!" He screeched, making Tala curse and swerve a little.

"You almost crashed us!"

"You took your hands off the wheel!"

"Well we weren't going to die because I took my hands of the wheel FOR ONE GODDAMNED SECOND!"

"It is that overconfidence THAT WILL END UP GETTING US KILLED!"

"WHAT OVER CONFIDENCE?"

"YOUR OVERCONFIDENCE!"

"Taking my hand off the wheel for a SECOND to AIR QUOTE is NOT overconfidence!"

"KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD!"

"I WAS UNTIL YOU RUINED IT WITH ALL YOUR SCREECHING!"

"No seriously,please keep your eyes on the road."

"I will, I will, don't worry."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So. Do they know that you disguise yourself to come hang out with me?"

"My secretary does, because she's the one who handles all my schedules and things and I can't really hide things from her. My butler knows, because he helps cover for me sometimes. My driver does, for obvious reasons." Kai smirked, before he cocked his head to the side, looking confused. "Why did you air quote my name like that, anyway?"

Tala scrunched his face, not taking his eyes off the road just to keep the other from panicking. "Well. There's you. My friend and guy who loves Johnny Depp and likes reading Cheknov and hates wearing skinny jeans. Then there's Kai Hiwatari, the supermodel, the heart throb, the perfect person, practically a luxury brand in himself. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do." Kai looked out of the window at the passing scenery, the atmosphere not unlike the first time he had dropped Kai off in the morning the first time they met. Kai's face looked pensive, and a little wistful. "I'm nothing more than a billboard."

Tala's eyes widened and his heart _hurt_, hearing the dejection in the blunette's tone and body language. "Hey, don't say that. Think of all your fans. You have women of all ages, and certainly a good portion of men mad about you. Heck, I know some married women who think you're god's gift to earth!"

"That's actually quite creepy. How would you feel if someone told you there's a bunch of septuagenarians who'd like to get in your pants?"

"Okay. I get it, but still, isn't it flattering that you're admired by so many people?"

"Admired for what? My looks? My heritage is responsible for that, not me. Actually, nothing about 'Kai Hiwatari' is me, even though I am him. He's almost a personality of his own, though he's not really real. But since he the one that's visible, he's the one that actually 'exists' in public, not me. Does that make me... The one that's fake? Jeez, I'm not even making any sense."

"You make perfect sense." Tala said, keeping his eyes straight in front of him. "Perfect sense. Also, you're very real," he looked sideways at Kai for a second, his eyes as intense as his voice. "and I'll always remind you even if you forget it yourself."

Kai looked at Tala, a hint of surprise and gratitude on his face. "Thank you."

"That's what friends are for, dumbass. No thanks necessary. Anyway, where do you want to eat? There's a place not far from here, if you don't mind a slightly rowdy atmosphere, we could go there."

The other startled at the sudden shift in atmosphere, but managed to nod. "Sure."

"Great! They have amazing food! Do you like burgers?"

"I can't eat things that are too fatty because my personal tra-" He trailed off at the 'are you shitting me' look Tala was giving him, and nodded his head. "Okay. Burgers sound good."

Tala grinned at him and took a sharp left, laughing as Kai squeezed his eyes closed and hung onto the dashboard for dear life.

**qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

"Is this your idea of 'slightly rowdy'?" Kai screamed, trying to be audible over the raucous din of the bar.

"What, you don't like it?" Tala screamed back, leaning closer to the shorter male.

They were sitting at the bar, a glass of water in front of Kai, a glass of orange soda in front of Tala. Their burgers are half gone, and both of them are feeling full already.

"So, your driver is picking you up here?"

"Yes. He said he'll be here at around eight forty five."

"Hm. So we have around half an hour left, huh?"

"Yes. This burger is really good." Kai moved closer to Tala, not really intent on screaming himself hoarse for the next thirty minutes. The bar was loud andboisterous, and Kai felt distinctly uncomfortable, not used to such an environment. "Do you always come to places like these?"

Tala tensed, feeling how close Kai was sitting and how his breath tickles the shell of his ear when he leans in to speak to him. He knew it was only because Kai wanted to speak without shouting, but it still made the fuzzies erupt in his stomach. It sounded terribly cheesy, but despite the varied smells that permeate the air in the bar, Kai's scent of pine forests and ozone was all Tala could smell.

He inhaled deeply, trying not to be very obvious about it. He remembered Kai's question, and turned to answer him, but the sight of large purple eyes looking at him with nothing in their depths but innocence made his heart stutter. The small smudge of ketchup at the corner of his mouth made him want to kiss the other till they both turned blue from lack of air.

"Hey." He said, his body moving like a being possessed. He saw himself moving like he was a marionette and someone was pulling his strings, his movements slow and careful but not hesitant. His hand rose, palm situating itself on the apple of Kai's cheek (so soft, he noted absently), his thumb moving in a reverent downward swipe, gently transferring the spot of red from the corner of pink lips that are slightly parted in surprise, and onto a slightly calloused thumb.

Kai's eyes were wide and there was a bright, flustered blush on his pale face, his mouth still hanging slightly ajar as Tala withdrew his hand from his face. Tala inwardly felt like kicking himself and hugging himself at the same time, but managed to keep a calm and unaffected facade as he shrugged. "You had ketchup on your face."

Kai closed his mouth with an audible snap, and turned away. "Thanks."

There was silence between them, feeling heavy despite the din of their environment. It fell around them like a thick and stifling blanket, and Tala wanted it gone.

"So what do have lined up for this week?" he asked cheerfully, as if that particular tension-heavy moment had never happened.

Thankfully, Kai decided to play along, looking thoughtful for a moment before responding. "I've got a photo shoot for Ralph Lauren which will take up at least two or three days, I think. The photographer I'm working with is really good, but he's such a notorious perfectionist and all around ass hole that I hate working with him. And then there's a Paco Rabanne ad for Vogue, and a Tissot ad for Harper's Bazaar. And that's it, I guess. Stuff sometimes changes at the last minute, and photographers sometimes decide that they don't like the clothes you're wearing and aren't satisfied until they make you change your clothes at least 3 or four times. Meh. It all gets boring after a while."

"I can imagine." Tala smiled, picking at the crumbs of his burger. "Is it fun, meeting new people and going to new places and stuff?"

Kai turned to him, a mix of mild shock and amusement on his face. "Who told you being a supermodel meant meeting new people?"

Tala just looked at him. "But you work with so many different people."

"Yeah, but I don't really _interact _with them. Most of the negotiations are handled by my secretary, and the make up artists and hairstylists don't really talk to you, unless they're trying to flirt or gain some sort of favour. The wardrobe assistants are usually getting yelled at and they're always really busy so they can't hold a proper conversation as well, or they're just trying to feel me up. Most of the photographers I know are real assholes, and the editors and other head honchos don't really talk to me because to them I'm nothing but a kid. The other models see my stardom as plain nepotism and don't even bother talking to me unless it's to make snide comments about me and any random person I may have worked with. It's not a very friendly place, the modeling world."

"So all those documentaries and page three things and gossip columns are real? People are _that_ catty?"

"You know Tala, for someone who knows a lot about some things, you are really naive when it comes to stuff like this. Stuff about 'Kai's' world."

"Yeah, just like you're clueless about the 'real' world."

"Hey, modeling and being famous is 'real' too."

"Yeah, but it's not _really_ 'real'. You know what I mean. Anyway, aren't we just the pair? It's like we're two halfs of a who-" Tala shut his mouth and clamped his hand over it, just to be sure nothing else comes out. "Oh look, it's eight forty five already! Time sure flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?"

Kai looked at him suspiciously, but he's knows enough about Tala now to question his weird tendencies. A happy buzz crossed his mind at the thought that he's actually gotten close enough to a person to understand their quirks. But he just maintained the suspicious look and said "Yes, it does."

"So when are we meeting up the next time?"

"I will let you know by text, because I don't know right now."

Tala laughed, and they both stood up. He paid for their meal, despite the other's protests, and they playfully swated at each other as they walk out the bar.

When Kai's Bentley arrived to take him home, the two were still swatting and shoving at each other, the glee evident on their faces.

Behind the driver's wheel, Andrei smiled warmly at the sight.

_************continues...**_

**So! This is a bit of a longer chapter. You could say it's my way of apologising for the delay, yes? And I do not own any brands and magazines that I've mentioned here. I also don't know much about the fashion industry, and all my knowledge comes from watching the series Ugly Betty, and the bollywood movie Fashion. So yeah, that's not much. And if I've offended any of you who works/have worked/plan to work for the fashion industry, I'm very sorry. The above is just Kai's viewpoint, and each person is entitled to their opinions. **

**Love and cookies to all.**

**Thank you for reading! Reviews make my day and make me work faster! I think the next update will be on the 25****th**** of July. Hopefully. **

**Have a great week, everyone!**


	9. An Unexpected Turn of Events

**Ah. I couldn't make the deadline, because i had a week of tests. I have one more test on Monday, but I figured I couldn't leave you hanging. And besides, today is AmTheLion's birthday, so here it is:**

**Happy Birthday to you, AmTheLion! Hope you have a great year filled with lots of great fanfiction and happy stuff and great food! This chapter is for you!**

**And I would also like to thank Hibisha and Galaxy-Eyes11 for reviewing! **

**But I feel kind of depressed because this is the ninth chapter so far and I've only received, what, 27 reviews? I feel like I'm being a whiny child but I genuinely feel pathetic because my hit-counter says 2184 views! It's not adding up! **

**Please review you guys! You're pretty much the only reason I'm slogging away to finish this soon, despite my crazy ass schedule! Gimme my righteous share of love and chocolate! *puppy pout* I'm not asking for much, just, at least help me hit the 40-review mark by the time we wrap up with this story? Please? *higher intensity puppy pout***

**Anyway,**

_**When the Stars Cease to Shine**_

Chapter 9: An Unexpected Turn of Events

There hadn't been any messages since last week, and Tala was a little curious, not to mention worried. What had happened? Kai used to text him almost every day, so suddenly not getting any texts seemed really odd. And besides, it had been three weeks since they'd last seen each other, and Tala was getting antsy. He was being ridiculous and lovesick and moronic but he couldn't help how he felt.

And he really couldn't afford to slack off on his work now. He'd been slacking off a lot lately, and his boss was this close to firing him. He needed to stop fretting and start focusing on his work. He could worry about Kai later.

**qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

Later turned out to be ten minutes after he'd started focusing on his work. He just couldn't do it, with all the 'why's in his head. He couldn't.

Vitali placed a cup of coffee on his workstation, taking a sip from his own as he leaned casually against the wall. "You look like you could use some."

Tala smiled gratefully as he takes the disposable paper cup. What would he do without his friends, really? "What are you doing here?"

"My eyes were beginning to burn so I asked boss for a break. Felt like annoying you so I came here." He grinned from behind his cup, a twinkle in his eyes. "So. The hot-shot giving you shit?"

Tala narrowed his eyes at the brunette, not liking the odd tone the other had. "Don't talk about him like that."

"Like what? I was just asking things instead of assuming, so shoot me."

The redhead huffed out a breath. "It's nothing. I'm just a little worried since I haven't heard from him for a while."

"A while?" 

"One week."

"Uhm. Isn't that being a bit too... Clingy?"

Tala paused, considering. "Not really. He texts me almost everyday, so not hearing from him for such a long time gives me a bad feeling in my gut."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Well, who knows? Maybe he got stalked or something and had to change his number, or maybe his phone was stolen? Maybe he lost the passwords to all his social networking accounts. Maybe he's out of the country for a shoot and can't contact you? Stop worrying, everything's gonna be fine, yeah?"

"As much as it physically pains me to admit it, you're right." Tala threw his cup into the waste paper bin at the other side of the room, and grinned at the other man when it landed perfectly. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." He turned away, but not before thoroughly messing up the redhead's hair. "See you around, red rose o' mine."

"Stop calling me that! Poop head!"

"Reeal mature Tala. Nice."

Tala turned to glare at Yuri as he snickered loudly.

**qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

Another week had passed, and now Tala was full on panicking. He'd seen on the gossip news that Kai had turned down the chance to work with a world renowned fashion photographer for unspecified reasons, and that his grandfather had popped a blood vessel about it. There was no other news, though.

He tried texting him, but received no reply. When he called, a mechanical voice said that the customer he was trying to reach was currently unavailable. he never came online on facebook, so he could only send a few messages. He didn't have his email id. Bummer.

What could have been keeping Kai from contacting him? Did he get into trouble for meeting up with him? Maybe Voltaire didn't take too kindly to his grandson associating with commoners. That was quite possible.

Maybe he could try contacting the secretary?

Naw.

Then what else could he do? He couldn't just drive up to the Hiwatari mansion, stomp up to his door and demand to speak to Kai, either.

All he could do was wait, and he was tired of waiting.

**qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

Kai was pacing in his luxurious bedroom, the comfy feel of the Kashmiri carpet on his bare feet doing nothing to quell the outrage and helplessness flooding his body.

His grandfather was such an arrogant, self absorbed, overbearing prick!

Aaaarrrrrrgggg!

It had been two weeks since he'd last spoken to Tala, and he knew the other man would be sick with worry by now. Not for his physical safety -Tala would know better than to worry about that, what with all his body guards wandering about- but for his sanity.

He'd been grounded.

He was eighteen years old, an adult, and his grandfather had _grounded_ him.

The _nerve._

How could he do this to him? Just because he turned down the ad for Versace? But his grandfather _knew_ why he did it. Was his personal comfort such a trivial matter to overlook in the face of money? Didn't his personal opinion matter when he was the one who was actually doing the work? Sure, his grandfather decided his work all the time, but couldn't he have a say in the matter at least once?

This was not working out. He had been thinking the same thoughts over and over again for the past week, and he was tired of his head throbbing all the damn time.

He looked at the clock.

_6:45._

Seventy five minutes till dinner.

He peeked out of his room, checking to see if anyone was walking about.

The coast was clear.

He silently closed his door, even though no one was around to hear it, and locked it.

Good.

He walked back to his bed, and looked around, his actions registering as silly even to himself, but he was beyond paranoid when it came to his one ferociously guarded secret. Not even Nadja knew about this.

He crawled his way to the edge of his queen sized bed, pulled back the royal blue covers, and lifted the thick mattress to reveal the small compartment that he had painstakingly and secretly created.

His grandfather would flip if he found out that he had sawed off a bit from an antique redwood bed to create a hidey hole.

He carefully pulled out his treasure using the very tips of his thumb and forefinger, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

His ancient portable phone.

It was an extension of his house's main phone which connected to the caretakers's lounge, so he didn't have to worry about paying the bills or anything. He also didn't need to worry about getting found out.

He glanced one last time at the door, before he curled up in the corner of the bed, hugging a pillow between his legs, as he typed in the number that he'd memorised.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three-

"Hello?"

"Tala?"

"Kai! Oh my God, I was so worried! What happened? I heard your gramps flipped out when you turned down that ad? How have you been?"

"Tala!" Kai breathed out, the relief tangible in his voice. "Yeah. I turned it down. The old man absolutely flew off the handle at that. He grounded me."

"What!?"

"Yeah. No phone, no internet, no means of contact with the outside world. I'm confined to my bedroom, library, dining room and training room. I can't even go out for a walk. I've been rotting away for the past week with only the cruddy radio to keep me company. All the songs are shit. And I didn't feel like reading. I've been _so bored_. And I really missed talking to you."

"I missed talking to you too." Tala's voice sounded relieved, but there was something else to it. "Wait a second. You're eighteen. How could he ground you? And besides, if he took away all your phones and stuff, how are you calling me now?"

"Well. This is my last link to humanity. I have this nifty little phone from the stone ages tucked away in a little space not even my maids know about. He probably thought I threw this away a few years ago and didn't bother to search for it. Good for me. I would have called sooner but I wanted to be sure I wouldn't be found out. And the man controls everything I do, you think he won't be able to ground me?"

"Hmm. That's harsh. So he doesn't know you have this phone, then?"

"No, hence my contacting you with it."

"You're crafty."

"Thanks. With a grandfather like mine, you have to be."

"Ha. Hey, Why did you get grounded in the first place? It wasn't because of me was it?"

"No. It was because I turned down the Versace offer."

"But why?"

"Why did I turn it down, or why he ground me?"

"Both?"

"Hm. I turned it down because the photographer is a smarmy, slithery, lecherous asshole, and I didn't want to see him again. I nearly got molested the last time I worked with him, and I didn't want to get into that kind of a situation again. He made me feel like there were insects crawling on my skin, you know? It was so disgusting. And I told my grandfather this, but he insisted I suck it up like a man and just do the job. I locked myself up in my room, then shit really hit the fan... and the rest is history."

There was an odd, uncomfortable silence from the other side. Kai didn't like it, so he bulldozed on ahead. "And that's why I'm sitting all alone in my room with nothing to do, bored out of my mind, trying to curse my grandfather out of existence. I'm really sorry I'm unloading all this on you, but I really just wanted to talk to you and-"

"Run away."

... "What?"

"You heard me, run away from there. You could escape and run away with me. I'll come get you."

"Voltaire will have us in handcuffs before we even have the chance to get out of Moscow."

"I have a plan. No, I have a brilliant plan!" Tala's voice sounded more enthusiastic by the minute, and Kai didn't like it one tiny bit.

"Tala. Are you drunk?"

"I'm offended, Kai. No, I'm not. But listen, I know a way to get you away from the mess that is your life and have some down time and just let loose and relax. It'll be fun, I promise. Just pack a few clothes and clean undies in a backpack."

"I hate to burst your shiny little bubble Tala, but there's absolutely no way you can just waltz into the estate and whisk me away. Do you know the kind of security we have to keep away the crazed loons and papparazi? Nobody has breached these walls so far, and I don't think you'll be the first."

There was a small pause on the other side, and Kai swore he could feel a shiver down his spine as he imagined the crazed grin that was no doubt eating up the redhead's face.

"I'm not coming in, darling. You're coming out."

_************continues...**_

**Ha! How was that? I moved the plot along a bit because I was getting restless to reach the action! You should understand that almost 2 months have passed by now, and Tala and Kai have become good friends, so Kai trusts Tala even though he's highly skeptical of whatever idea Tala has. **

**Again, I would like to shamelessly beg for reviews, and tell you that it'll be another few weeks before I'm able to get the next chapter out. I've been roped in to edit one of my college mags, and write few repots for another magazine, plus the ususal college bullshit we have going on, tests, essays, et cetera. **

**Happy birthday again, AmTheLion! I hope you liked this chapter!**

**Pleeeeeaaaaase revieeeeeeewwww! Your reviews are my sustenance in my hectic and joy-less lifestyle! (shame? What's that?)**


	10. The Great Escape

**Hibisha and Akin 'to38 and secretsareneverkepthiddenforve are cool people because they they reviewed. **

**The rest of you are cool too because you read this thing.**

**Hmmmmmmm.**

**So, without further ado, a scheming Kai for your reading pleasure, only at:**

_**When the Stars Cease to Shine**_

Chapter 10: The Great Escape

After a bit of sputtering in which Kai had been unsuccessful in trying to persuade Tala to drop his crazed scheming, Kai had grudgingly hidden his phone back in his little cache, and proceeded to mope around in his room.

Since there was nothing Tala could do until he was out of the mansion's walls, Kai would have to figure out his escape routes by himself.

Well, shit.

What to do, what to do.

He paced around, almost wearing a tread into his expensive oriental rug. Getting pissed, he dragged all of his pillows from his bed and made a little fort on the rug before settling into it and getting comfy.

Nnnnnnmmm. Silk, satin and cool egyptian cotton? Oh yessssss.

He could just stay here for_ever._

No, no. Focus. We need to get out of this place. A hell hole is a hell hole no matter what kind of warm fluffy pillows it had.

Ok. Think.

Well. Thinking. Thinking. Thinking. Ooh, was this pillow _always _this huggable? It was so damn comfy, ahhh...

No! Bad brain! Focus! Think: Stealth and cunning. Stealth and cunning.

Cunning and stealth. Secrecy.

Like a tiger stalking his prey.

Like a great white sneaking on an unsuspecting fish.

Like someone that's doing something secretly.

Pfffft.

Kai took some time to roll around sniggering at himself before refocusing his thoughts.

Damn. He was becoming Tala. How and when did that start to happen?

Anyway.

Cunning and stealth.

Cunning and stealth.

_James Bond._

He was on to something here.

He'd seen a lot of movies. He could do this.

Except he didn't have any cool shoes that let him walk on walls, or that cool cutting tool that cut out bits from windows, or jet powered rollerblades, of those hook-thingies that allowed people to scale walls and stuff. He didn't even have any guns (Not that he'd shoot any of his employees, of course). No smoke bombs, no jet packs, no nothing. Tch.

Just then, he heard a knock.

"Young master Kai?" came a timid female voice. "Mr. Dickinson asked me to fetch you."

Kai blinked. A bolt of inspiration struck, a thousand light bulbs clicked on in his head, he resisted the urge to scream 'Eureka!' and jump around like crazy.

He stood, walked to his door, and opened it just a little. "Lilliana?" he queried, squinting at her from behind the door.

"Young master, Lord Voltaire-"

"No time." Kai opened the door fully before he pulled her in and shut it.

"Yo-yo-young Master?" She whimpered, eyes as wide as saucers, practically shivering where she stood.

"Lilliana. It's alright. I'm not going to eat you."

She blinked at him owlishly.

"I want you to do me a favour."

She continued to blink owlishly.

"I need you to get me Voltaire's schedule for the coming week."

Now she was just staring at him.

"Lilliana?"

"Oh! Oh, um." She composed herself. Or as composed as he could get anyway. She was so awfully timid! "How am I supposed to do that?"

"Ask Mr. Dickinson."

"What? But I can't-"

"Shhh!" Kai turned a glance at the door, and she got the hint. "This is supposed to be a secret, okay? Just tell Mr. Dickinson that I asked. Don't tell _anyone _else. Can I trust you?"

She looked solemn as she answered. "Of course."

Kai smiled. "Now what did you come here for?"

"Oh yes! Dinner is ready. Lord Voltaire called for you."

"I'll be right there."

Now there was nothing left to do but survive dinner and wait till he got the schedule.

**qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

Dickinson was the Hiwatari family's butler, and Kai had known the man since he was an infant. He was an affectionate old man with a pleasant countenance and kind, grandfatherly demeanour about him.

The only thing his grandfather had done right in his entire damned life was hiring Dickinson as their butler.

If anyone could and would help him out, it was the portly old man.

He just hoped he wouldn't get into too much trouble.

Two days had passed since he'd made that little deal with Lilliana. He was again burrowing into his pillow fort when he heard a slight knock on his door.

Well, that was fast.

He extricated himself from his fortress and opened the door, to find not the girl, but Mr. Dickinson himself.

"Kai." The man nodded at him, and he opened the door further so he could walk in.

"Why do you want that schedule?"

"Why do you think I want it?"

The old man looked at him, waiting for him to elaborate.

"Mr. Dickinson, _please._" Kai pushed down his pride for the moment. "I need your help. You know I would never ask you for anything unless it's important."

The man sighed. "Kai. You know very well that I'll always help you. But don't you think this is going too far?"

"I have no other choice!" The blunette yelled, raking both his hands through his hair, tugging at the strands as if he was going to pull them out. "I'm going _crazy_ here, being held captive like I'm some criminal! I'm sick and tired of my grandfather, sick of his control and his attitude! I'm eighteen for crying out loud, I should be able to live my life as I like it! He's gone too far this time, and I can't take it anymore!"

The man was gazing at him now, concern and worry clear on his face. "I understand Kai, but I entreat you to think it through again, before doing something so reckless."

"There's nothing to think about." Kai said, straightening to his full height, steely determination in his eyes. "I'm running away. And no one can stop me."

Dickinson sighed, but there was amusement in his eyes. "I suppose that's right." He grinned a little and waggled his eyebrows. "Voltaire is leaving on a business trip this Friday. Convenient, isn't it?"

Kai grinned back. "Yes, indeed. When will he be back?"

"In 2 days."

"I couldn't ask for more."

"But," the man frowned, stroking his mustache, deep in thought. "Boris will still be here."

Ah Boris. That slimy, slithery snake of a man who was the head of security at Hiwatari Mansion. Kai hated the man with the burning fury of two thousand suns.

And Boris was Voltaire's most trusted lapdog with the eyes and reflexes of a hawk. This was going to get really tricky.

"I can keep all the others away from the hallways that you'll use as your exit. And I can help to distract the guards at the main gate as well."

Kai nodded. It was not to prevent anyone from stopping him, but so they wouldn't have to be guilty when they were questioned. If no one saw him making his escape, they wouldn't be able to say anything to Voltaire no matter how he interrogated them, keeping their jobs safe.

"Will you be okay... If Voltaire finds out?" He didn't want the jolly old man to lose his job because of him. That would be majorly sucky.

"He won't find out." the old man had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, and Kai found himself grinning back.

**qpqpqpqpqpqpqpqp**

Finally.

Friday, eight thirty pm, the moment of truth..

He had a small duffel bag filled with some T-shirts, two jeans, clean underwear, his red silk pajamas, 3 pairs of socks, his toothbrush, his white cashmere scarf, and his passport. He also had two thousand rubles in cash stuffed in one of his socks, because he couldn't use his credit card without getting traced and then hunted down.

He was wearing all black: black Nike sneakers that let him run freely, loose black cargos, a tight fitting long sleeved shirt and a black jacket lined with fleece, to keep out the cold, plus, he had a black cap on to hide his unique hair.

He'd called Tala the very day Dickinson had visited him, telling him about his plan. Tala said he'd be there at nine pm sharp, where they would make their getaway in the cover of the dark. Hopefully. Tala said he'd pray for it, just to be on the safe side.

Kai wondered what sort of pagan ritual Tala had performed to convince his boss to give him 3 weeks off. Probably something involving blood, and a life time of overtime with minimum wage.

He watched from his second floor window as Voltaire got into a jet black limo and shut the door behind him. Boris was no where to be seen. Shit. He was hoping Boris would escort Voltaire to the airport so he could make his getaway without much trouble, but that was not to be, apparently.

He hefted his duffel bag (which was also black) onto his shoulder before he took a deep breath and blew it out. Walk to the ground floor, open the the door, run to the gates, keep to the shadows, try not to get caught by the dobermans, wait till Dickinson distracts them and make a mad run for it through the gate.

Here goes nothing.

He opened his door and stepped through before he power walked down the hallway, down two flights of stairs and out the back door. He saw not a single soul on his way, and sighed in relief.

Yes. He could do this. Cunning and stealth.

He took off at a light jog as he kept an eye out for the 3 dobermans that they owned. He'd never befriended them and he dearly regretted that now. Damn his grandfather for never letting him have any fun. "Dogs are filthy creatures" his ASS.

He dodged behind trees and tall bushes, grateful that his gardeners were nuts for trees with thick trunks.

As he made his way toward the main walls of his estate, he thought he saw a beam from a flashlight, and froze where he was standing behind a thick oak.

"Hm. I thought I saw something move." A gruff voice said, and the flashlight moved from side to side, coming dangerously close to the oak he was using as his hideout.

"What are you doing, wandering this place when we were told not to? was very specific that we were not supposed to let the dogs out or patrol this area. What are your ears made of? LETTUCE? Che. Lets get going." Another voice, this one much smoother, spat out.

Kai cheered internally for Dickinson. The old man had gone above and beyond.

"Oh. The time is eight forty five now." The second man spoke again, albeit a bit loudly.

"Yeah. So?"

"In ten minutes, the estate's power is gonna cut out and-"

"What? But we never have powercuts he-"

"SHUT UP YOU OAF!" The second guy sounded crabby, and vaguely like his stuck up personal trainer. "As I was saying, the power's gonna cut out for exactly 5 minutes because there's gonna be a _mysterious_ problem with the wiring. So when Natasya takes her car out to the main gates, the gates will stay open for those exact five minutes because the gates depend on electricity, yeah? So a person can just hide behind the car and make a run for it, since something's _mysteriously _wrong with the backup generator as well. So it's eight forty seven now, meaning there's exactly eight minutes to the shut down."

"Why are you saying all this this?" The first guy sounded clueless as ever.

"Good luck, young master Hiwatari! Now come you big lug, let's get inside." The voice that sounded like his trainer faded away gradually till Kai couldn't hear anything.

He didn't need to, anyway. He was feeling so touched that his employees would do this for him, at the risk of their own jobs. They were all getting a raise when he came back, that was for sure.

He began jogging a little more freely with the knowledge that the dogs weren't roaming about. He soon reached the large stone wall that separated the estate from the rest of the surroundings. It was eight fifty. He had five minutes to reach the gates, and then... Freedom.

Taking off at a brisk run, he stilled when he came within the vicinity of the large mechanised gates, the bright interior of the control room that was visible through the large bulletproof glass windows, and...

Boris sitting inside. Shit. That made everything more complicated. He waited, settling into a crouch, making himself as small and still as possible.

At exactly eight fifty two, a large minivan pulled up to the gate.

A minute passed before the large gate slowly swung open, but the car didn't move out, and at exactly eight fifty five, the whole place plunged into darkness, and a cacophony of yells and curses filled the air as the men inside the room scrambled around in the dark to try and find flashlights and emergency lamps, pounding at various buttons in their confusion.

Kai surged forward, running as if the hounds of hell were at his heels, moving behind the car, beside it, as he used it as cover from getting spotted by the torch beams that were now being waved about wildly.

Not wasting a minute, he shot out of the gates, and and what did you know, Tala pulled up at that exact moment, throwing the passenger side door open before yelling "Get in!"

He practically threw himself into the vehicle which started moving even before he closed the door, and fell face first into Tala's lap as the vehicle lurched forward with the tires squealing and engine roaring.

He vaguely registered Boris's screaming and cursing as he barked orders into his phone, demanding a car and what not.

He fell back into his seat with a huff, his chest heaving with exhaustion and his body feeling numb with the fading adrenalin.

Before long, he started giggling, and the giggles turned into full of bellowing laughter wich Tala joined, and it sounded like there were a couple of hyenas in the car as they laughed away their shock, not yet completely comprehending that yes, they had gotten away safely and were now speeding away from Moscow at a hundred kilometers per hour.

Voltaire was gonna be _so_ pissed.

_************continues...**_

**So... Kai has escaped! And now he's gonna spend three whole weeks with Tala in the beautiful country side, where romantic opportunities overflow, and we get to meet 4 surprise new characters who I hope you all like!**

**How was this chapter? I hope it all sounded believable and real! If you have any questions, if anything is not clear, leave me a review or pm me and I'll gladly clarify.**

**Ok, so, review pleeeeease!**

**Till next time!**


	11. Road Trip

***Pops up from behind a fortress wall***

**Hey everyone! Wie Gehts? I'm learning German now!**

***Ducks to avoid assorted projectiles flying her way***

***peeks out fearfully***

**Sorry about the delay you guys... I have german classes from 2 to 6 on Sundays and I have college on all the other days, and my semester exams started and I had no time... I wrote bits and pieces of this in between studying for tests and whatnot, and my semesters just finished and I'm finally free so... **

**I'M REALLLLLLYYYYYY SORRY YOU GUYSSSSS **

**You're great and patient people and I keep doing this to you...**

***gross sobbing***

**Special thank to AcerbusEquinomin56, akin 'to38, GabZ and Hibisha for reviewing and OHMAGAWD I have 43 reviews now FORTY THREE *EXCITED SCREAMING***

**THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU *MORE SCREAMING***

**Now, on with the show! **

**This will be a bigger chapter, I think... Plus there will be some questionable humor and some heart-to-hearts which are supposed to add to character development... *mumbles some more trying to remember what else she was supposed to say* Oh yeah, there will be use of various lyrics, and I think everyone knows that I don't own any of them.**

***disappears behind wall***

**NOTE: I went through it and edited all the typos. I can't believe I didn't even notice there were so many... Agh. **

_**When the Stars Cease to Shine**_

Chapter 11: Road Trip

After they'd come down from the adrenalin rush and were more than 150 kilometers away from Moscow, things became very... quiet. Tala was staring straight ahead as he kept going at 90 kmph, not even making small talk as he usually did. Kai considered it a little eerie, seeing the always animated Tala with his mouth shut for more than a few minutes at a time.

And he didn't really know what to say to make the silence go away, so he kept his mouth shut and pensively stared outside the window at the passing trees and the occasional gas station or building.

After fifteen more minutes of silence, there was a clicking sound and Kai looked back inside, only to see the redhead fiddling with the music system, searching for a particular song.

A few moments later, an ominous noise was heard, followed by the howling of dogs, and very familiar opening beats belted out of the cars' impressive speakers.

Tala was nodding his head and grinning like a maniac, practically dancing in his seat as he sang along with the King Of Pop.

"_Its close to mi-idnight,_

_Something evil is lurking in the dark_

_Under the mo-on light,_

_You see a sight that almost stops your heart_

_You try to scream, but terror takes the sound _

_Before you make it_

_You start to freeze, as horror looks you_

_Right between the eyes,_

_You're paralyzed"_ The red head turned to look at him with the same manic grin on his face, egging Kai to sing along with him.

Kai hesitated a bit before he gave in, and the both of them screamed at the top of their lungs, both of them nodding their heads with the beat as they giggled slightly, the tension that seemed to permeate the car only minutes before vanishing without a trace.

"'_Cause this is THRILLER! Thriller night!_

_And no one's gonna save you from the _

_Beast about to strike_

_You know it's thriller, thriller night_

_You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller_

_Tonight!"_

They sang along for a while, just for the heck of it, and besides, who didn't like to sing along to Thriller? The song was addictive.

After that song ended, Maroon 5's Moves like Jagger came on, and Kai silenced himself as he watched Tala thoroughly enjoy himself, singing along and moving his head to the beat to this song as well.

"_Take by the tongue and I'll show you_

_Kiss me till you're drunk and I'll own you_

_With the Moves like Jagger_

_I got the moves like Jagger_

_I got the Mo-o-o-o-o-ves like Jagger"_

Kai rolled his eyes and smiled when Tala looked at him and winked at the 'Kiss me till you're drunk' part.

The next song was also energetic, but in a different language, and Kai was surprised when Tala matched the singer word for word.

"Is that... What language is that? And is that Spanish in the middle?"

Tala turned and gave him a big smile. "Hindi. You like Bollywood?"

"I've never really seen any foreign movies, apart from English movies."

"Hm. You're missing out on quite a bit."

"Maybe."

"What's your favourite movie?"

"I've watched many movies, but I like very few. I love Life is Beautiful. And The Sound of Music, more recently I liked The Blind Side,"

" Amazing movie, that one. What's your favourite genre?"

"Art movies, documentaries, mostly old movies, and I quite like Charlie Chaplin. I watch whatever catches my fancy, but I'm not really one for action and mindless stunts. "

"But you like Pirates of the Carribean."

"Well, yeah. That's a nice series. Plus Johnny Depp was in it. What about you?"

"I like rom-coms. I don't like movies that are sad and depressing, and I hate sad or ambiguous endings. I like horror movies, but not the extremely disgusting ones, with slime and goop everywhere. But I watch just about everything, cause you never know if you'll like something unless you've tried it. I like Charlie Chaplin too." He smiled sideways at Kai before focusing his attention back on the road.

"What's your favourite movie?"

"Too many to list out." Tala gave him a sort-of-pained look. "Why aren't you asking about our destination? Aren't you curious?" He asked, reminding Kai of a child that had a secret who was bursting to spill it but didn't want to till someone asked.

"You said we were going to your sister's house in the country side, right?"

Tala beamed, relieved that he could finally talk about it. "Yeah. It's a great place, and it's near the woods, so we can go out exploring and stuff in the morning, maybe even see some hares, or foxes! My sister and her husband have a dairy farm, and they have a lot of animals, goats, cows, and sheep! It's really amazing, and it's a really peaceful place. I think you'll like it there."

Kai smiled. Yes, that did sound quite nice. And if it was secluded, there were lesser chances of getting found out and possibly reported...

He briefly wondered about what was going on in the mansion. No doubt his grandfather would have been informed about it right now. Hopefully Mr. Dickinson and the others wouldn't get caught, or fired. He really didn't want that.

4 hours had passed since they'd left Moscow, and it looked like they had to stop to refuel the car.

Tala looked at Kai, frowning a little. "There'll be people at the gas station."

The model nodded, before reaching over the back seat and grabbing his bag. He pulled out a black beanie and his lens case, before turning the rear view mirror to put his contacts in. The road was smooth, so he didn't have to worry about poking his eyes out. He put the hat on his head, pulling it so it covered all of his hair. He also pulled on a surgical face mask, and coughed a little.

"How do I look?"

Tala raised an eyebrow, amused. "With all that black and that mask? You look like a mugger."

"If I looked like a supermodel, I'd be defeating the point."

Tala chuckled lightly and left it at that.

Pretty soon the gas station came up, and Tala pulled in behind another car. There were no other cars there, and the lone serviceman was listening to the radio at full blast.

"_... watari has been reported missing. Details of how he went missing are sketchy but al police checkpoints have been alerted to be on the look out for the heir. A reward has been announced for the safe return of Kai Hiwatari by his grandfather, Voltaire Hiwatari, who is distraught at his grandson's disappearance."_

Kai's eyes widened a little and he slumped in his seat in a poor attempt to hide. Tala moved behind the other car, before he turned off the ignition and pulled out the key and walked to the petrol cap.

He tried to be as nonchalant as possible even when the serviceman looked into his car and eyed Kai suspiciously.

"My cousin is recovering from pneumonia." He said, putting on his best game face.

Kai, seemingly taking a hint, erupted in a series of the most believable, painful sounding coughs and even wheezed a little, before he slumped back in his seat like one of those old people having sudden heart attacks in soap operas. Tala bit the inside of his lower lip, trying desperately to not break into laughter.

The serviceman gave the boy an understanding look tinged with compassion before he turned back to Tala to receive his cash. "Take care. There are diseases everywhere now, not like the old days."

"Yeah, definitely." Tala gave the man a quick smile and hurried back to the driver's side, eager to get away and also a little eager to let out the mirth he'd been trying to keep in.

As soon as they got away, Kai revived and pulled off his beanie and surgical mask, as Tala threw his head back and laughed, thumping the steering wheel with his right fist. "Bloody hell, what was that? Melodramatic much? It looked like you were the 80 year old millionaire reacting to the news that your 30 year old wife slept with the 20 year old pool boy! What was up with THAT!" He resumed his laughing, although it was a little more subdued now.

Kai chuckled a little, only slightly put out that Tala was laughing at his expense. But he guessed that he _had_ gone a little overboard there with the wheezing. He was supposed to be recovering from pneumonia, not dying of it.

"I guess I did get a bit carried away. But that was all kinds of fun. I saw you trying to bite back laughter. You looked constipated." Kai laughed back at Tala, doing an exaggerated imitation of Tala's stoic face.

"Oh, that reminds me. Have you seen the movie Constipation?"

Kai just looked at him. And looked at him. When Tala didn't seem to be offering any explanations, he ventured, "Um, no?"

"Yeah, well, that's because it isn't out yet!"

The right side of his face twitched, before he let out an undignified snort, falling back into his seat and huffing out disbelieving laughter. "That-" He made a little 'hah' sound "-was the... You know what, I don't even have words for it."

Tala was laughing too, before he turned to Kai again, eyes bright. "Wait, wait, here's another one-"

"No Tala, really, that's enough-"

"Knock knock."

Kai gave him an exasperated look, but responded anyway. "Who's there?"

"Who who." Tala grinned.

"Who Who who?"

"Hee hee hee!"

Kai's face was a the epitome of 'oh my god it _is_ kind of funny but I can't laugh because it's sort of beneath my sense of humor' which when physically expressed was a look with his lips tucked between his teeth as he fought not to laugh at Tala's juvenile sense of humor, plus twitching in his right eye and the right side of his mouth.

Tala was laughing so hard at Kai's dismayed yet stunned face, the blunet trying to digest the fact that it was an absolutely dumb joke but it was sort of funny nonetheless.

"It's funny, just laugh already!" he cackled.

"It's not!"

"Maybe you don't have a sense of humor!"

Kai pursed his lips together to keep from saying anything else about the 'sense' part of Tala's sense of humor. "So where were we anyway before your mind blowing jokes?"

Tala stuck his tongue out at him, but responded anyway. "We were talking about your sick person act back at the fuel place."

"Oh yeah. I guess I did get a little carried away, didn't I?"

Tala laughed. "You did, but the old man seemed to believe it, so it's all okay. It was definitely very funny to an observer though."

"I know. My throat hurts now."

Tala laughed again. Kai marveled at how nice it sounded, how pleasant and comforting. He wanted to say so to the other man, but held back, not wanting to sound weird. Instead, he quipped, "So tell me, are you and your sister really close?"

"Yeah. Every since our parents died, we realized there isn't much else that's more important than family. Especially since I moved to the city, it seems like we've become closer. I call her at least once a week and we catch up. You'd think there would't be anything interesting in the country side, but she has her own share of amusing stories to tell, like what a cow did to an ox that tried to mount her, or how a duck scared their dog so bad he refused to come out of the house for two days straight! I talk to her sons too, real amazing pieces of work, those two. One's eight and the other's four, and they're both so cute! Bryan, that's the older one, he goes to elementary school, and he's the smartest little kid I've ever met! And Ian, he's adopted, and he's an absolute sweet heart, you'll see when you meet them. I'm sure you'll get along great!"

Kai looked mildly amazed at the amount of talking Tala had done without pausing to regroup, and all of it with a big smile too! He wondered how he'd get along with them. He'd never been around small children much, would they think he was a klutz and no fun at all? Anyone standing next to Tala would pale in comparison to the vibrant haired man, but he wanted to make a favorable impression on the man's family.

The thought had him confused. He normally didn't care about what others thought of him, but he found himself wanting to be liked by the people Tala held in such high regard.

"And my brother in law, don't even get me started on him. The man's huge! I mean, he's almost 6'6" and built like a tank, sometimes I look at him and wonder if he was a runaway military experiment or something, and the fact that he lives in the wild only adds to my suspicion that he doesn't want to be seen and reported and dragged back to whatever underground facility he was being experimented on at. But don't tell that to my sister, she'd make me go clean out the cow shed or worse. God knows she loves that man like crazy. The first time she bought him home I thought she was joking, and so did my mum! If dad had been there to see it he'd have thrown a bitch fit. 'No simple living farmer for my precious daughter!' he'd say in his gruff, angry voice, and then he'd stomp off and sit in the bathroom and read the newspaper till mum cajoled him out with promises to make caramel pudding for dessert. Weird man, my father. Anyways, when she brought Spencer home, me and mum were just staring at the guy. I mean, he was totally different from my sister, there was no way in hell that they even had anything in common, let alone like each other! But it turned out that both of them were really fond of animals and farm life, and that was that. She got married a year later, and bam, out came little Bryan and I'm an uncle at 18!"

Kai was trying and failing at hiding his amusement at Tala's monologue, complete with imitations of his father's voice and plenty of head bobbing and fist thumping, the most vicious which accompanied the 'out came little Bryan' part, by which point Kai was outright chortling and working on not choking on his own spit.

Tala looked over at Kai, pleased to see that his rambling had served its purpose and made the boy smile.

Recently, Tala had noticed a shift in his feelings toward the blunette, a shift he did't even register till it hit him right out of nowhere. It was during one of their phone conversations where they were both laughing over something mundane and not all that funny at all, that Tala had imagined him and Kai having a snowball fight and then making snow angels. The sheer non-X-ratedness of that visual was somewhat jarring to him.

Usually when he imagined them together, they were always doing something that involved a lot less clothes, and also one of them would be pressed against a horizontal or vertical surface.

There was also a lot of moaning. LOUD moaning.

But recently whenever he imagined them spending time together they were always doing _other_ fun activities, like street shopping and baking and flying kites. He found himself thinking up new things to show to the blunette, new things to make him smile. He found himself wanting to show Kai things that he'd never seen, things that he'd missed out on for so long. He found himself wanting to cuddle the blunette up and make the loneliness disappear from his brilliant ruby eyes. He wanted to protect Kai from everything bad in the world, he wanted the blunette to be safe and happy and experiencing everything he deserved to. He wanted to make the blunette forget that he ever felt lost. He found himself _actually falling in love _with the intelligent, witty and sweet model, something that felt totally different from how he was feeling all those months ago when he first met the guy. The feeling felt like someone had pressed his chest full of cotton and made breathing difficult. But strangely the thought that he was in _actual love_ made Tala feel content and secure and satisfied.

The way he saw it, love conquers all, so why bother trying to fight back? He was setting himself up for a big, _big_ fall if Kai decided to refuse his feelings, but he was confident that he could win him over with time.

Kai was fiddling with the audio system, looking at all the songs Tala had and either nodding in approval or grimacing at his taste in music.

"Your nose looks really cute when it's all scrunched up like that, like a pug!" He crowed.

Kai glared at him, but there was no hiding the faint blush that rose on his cheeks. "Stop calling me cute."

"Aw, but why?"

"Just don't. It's weird."

"Whatever you say. But the truth still stands even if I don't point it out, little pug-face!"

Kai chose not to dignify that little jibe with a response, and Tala simply laughed lightly.

"How do you do it?"

Tala frowned on hearing the suddenly soft, subdued voice of the boy. "What do you mean? How I do what?"

Kai gave a small, wistful smile as he turned his face slightly to look at the passing darkness. "Being yourself, I guess. You say whatever you want to say, and you don't care how other people take it."

"Hey, I _do_ care how other people take it, you know. I wouldn't want to hurt anyone by saying something insensitive or cutting. But I guess I do always say what I think..." Tala glanced sideways at the blunette's profile, willing him to look back. When it didn't happen, he ventured carefully, "Is this about the teasing? I won't do it anymore if you don't like it. I thought you didn't mind when I gave you nick-names."

"No, it isn't about that." Kai bent his head to look at his hands that were lying limply in his lap. "You're so open." He scratched the thumb of his left hand with the index finger of his right. "When you want to say something, you say it. Even when your opinion conflicts with the others, you say it anyway. You don't care if the other person accepts your point of view or not, but you make yourself heard." He linked his hands together, twiddling his thumbs. "I wish I could be like that."

Tala simply shut his mouth and waited for the blunette to ride out his train of thought.

"All my life," Kai sighed, letting his head fall back against the seat, the lights from the music system bathing his face in a dull blue glow, "All my life, I've been told what to do. How to speak, how to walk, how to eat, how to behave myself in public, how to always appear charming and well mannered and smiling despite how terrible you're actually feeling. I was the scion to the Hiwatari empire, and I was expected to act like that. My grandfather was always telling me to keep quiet and listen to what others were saying. I was never allowed to speak my mind, because my opinions were never worth anything, or because I would offend someone important to the family name. Even when I vehemently disagreed with whatever was being said, even if the other party was just _wrong_ about something, I could never tell them so because I might end up upsetting them and causing a scene, and bring shame to the Hiwatari name.

I tried speaking up once, at a dinner, when some old man was talking about clearing up a forest in South America and putting up luxury villas, like it didn't matter that there would be millions of animals living there, like it didn't matter that they'd be driven to extinction if their habitats were destroyed. I told them they had no right to kill off a whole exotic world just because they had the money and wanted to show it off. My grandfather caned me that night when we got home."

Tala's entire frame froze at that, looking wide eyed at Kai when he spoke that last bit so calmly.

Kai turned to Tala, opening his eyes halfway from where they'd been closed completely as he mused out loud, a sardonic smile on his face. "Don't look so stricken, Tala. My grandfather was a very strict man. He rewarded me when I got good grades and brought fame to the family. He also punished me when he felt I had crossed the limits he'd set up for me. Rudely talking back to a business partner was a grave offense in his book, and he made sure I knew that and wouldn't ever do it again.

I tried to be myself, and I got punished. Eventually I got tired and just stopped trying, till I was nothing but a puppet that bent to my grandfather's every whim.

And all the time, when I think, 'I don't want to be a Hiwatari. I want to be _me_', I realise I've spent so long being someone else that I don't even remember _who _'me' is anymore."

Tala felt his heart break for the younger boy. He knew Kai was sad and lonely, but he had no idea things were so bleak and desolate in the other's mind. He waited for Kai to continue, but when he didn't, he decided it was okay to speak up. "What bought this on, Kai?" he asked gently, not wanting to seem annoyed or judgmental.

Kai looked surprised, but he answered anyway. "Just that... A while ago, when you were laughing, you seemed so... Carefree. You tease me all the time, and you call things as you see them. If you want to say something, you say it, and worry about consequences later. You're sure of yourself. But whenever I want to say something, I always worry about how others interpret it, or react to it. Each time I want to say something to you, I worry if I might upset you, or that you might laugh at me, and I just want all the niggling in my mind to go away and just... Talk without worrying about stuff. I know what I just said doesn't have much connection with what I was talking about earlier, but it all seems interconnected."

Tala gave him a slight frown. He needed to say so much to reassure the blunette, but he wasn't sure how exactly to go about it. "What you just told me... I can't know exactly how it feels for you, but I can guess it. And I don't want to feel that way at all, even if it's just imaginary and for a few seconds. And you shouldn't have to feel that way either, and it physically hurts to think that you've had to experience that sort of emotional and mental strain for so long all by yourself. Ha, strain is an understatement.

Whatever you told me now, plus what you told me back then, on that day when we were going to have dinner, it all ties into your sense of self. You're confused because you feel like you're two different people, when in reality you don't have to be confused at all because you're ultimately both the same person. Kai Hiwatari the model and Kai Hiwatari the dork are two facets of a whole, both of them are just as real and constant as gravity and starlight. You can't see the stars during the day, or you can't exactly feel gravity, but that doesn't mean that they don't exist, right? It's just like that with you: just because your true self isn't in the spotlight and openly visible, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

And what all this about not being able to talk freely? As far as I've seen, you're spunky and witty and you always have a retort to everything I say. Sometimes I _have_ noticed that you look like you want to say something but you hold yourself back. But let me just tell you that it's okay. If you want to say something, come out and say it. If you don't want to say something, that's fine too. I think it's nice of you to carefully consider your words before you speak. But if you feel like it's holding you back, then you don't have to do it.

I've told you this before, and I'll keep telling you this till it sticks: You _need_ to stop over-thinking things. Stop calculating everything you experience. You say you feel like you don't even know who you are anymore, but _I_ can clearly see who you are. You're the guy I met on a bridge, who stayed with me in my house one night, who I took to my favourite diner for a coffee and the guy who got so embarrassed when he did something inconsequential like forgetting to change the names on the movie premier invites.

You're the guy who can act like a dying pneumonia patient, the guy who likes singing along to Michael Jackson, who knows so much more about the world than a normal eighteen year old should know.

You're the guy millions of people all over the world adore, the guy who was brave enough to trust a stranger to help you out, the guy who has the love of a mansion full of people who are willing to help you out even if it means risking their jobs, the guy who's compassionate enough to worry about a rainforest to try to speak against cutting it down.

But most importantly, Kai, you're the guy who had the determination and the strength to stand up for yourself against your grandfather and get away from him. You might argue that the idea was mine, or that you couldn't have done it without the help from your staff, but that doesn't take away the fact that you were the one who _actually pulled it off_. And I know for a fact that you could have done it even without anyone's help, because that's who you are, Kai. It's in your blood. You're intelligent, adaptable, courageous, and kind. You're _Kai Hiwatari. That's_ who you are. I can see you clearly, Kai, and the people around you can too. I think right now you're sad, and that's why you can't see it, but I'm positive that you will be able to as well. And when you do, I'll be right next to you, rolling my eyes at your theatrics and telling you, 'See, I told you so.' And that's a promise."

_************continues...**_

**I hope all this makes sense. I started out writing with an outline in mind, and then suddenly Kai was rambling and Tala was rambling and everything got all ramble-y and gosh I don't even know anymore. I feel really insecure about this chapter.**

**It's the longest chapter so far: it's 5000+ words. And the author's note alone is almost 400 words. GOOD GOD.**

**NOTE: I didn't come up with the Constipation joke, I found it on tumblr quite a while ago. The knock knock joke is also not mine, though I'm not sure if I saw it on TV or if I read it in the newspaper. **_**If you know the source, tell me and I will add it here. **_**Please don't call me a thief or whatever. I always give credit where it's due.**

**I laughed like a loon at both the jokes, which says something about my sense of humor. Hopefully you laughed too? **

**Because it was asked in a review, here's the Bollywood ring-tone that Tala has for his general calls:**

**Dilliwaali Girlfriend (From the movie Yeh jawani Hai Deewani) (remove the spaces and you're good to go)**

**y****outube****.****com/watch?v=****bCMqDAzYLBE&desktop_uri=****%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbCMqDAzYLBE**

**The song Tala has assigned to Kai is 'Hero' by Enrique Iglesias (Because Tala is ridiculously sappy like that. And he keeps changing the ring-tone, but rest assured it'll always be something stupidly romantic like Umbrella by Rihanna or Halo by Beyonce or even You Give Love A Bad Name by Bon Jovi. Zero Gravity by David Archuleta will also be used rampantly, almost on a rotational basis)**

**The song they listen to in the car: Senorita (from the movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara)**

**youtube watch?v= YdVPHlpMpsw&fulldescription= 1&client=mv-google&guid=&gl = IN&hl=en-GB**

**Whew.**

**Take pity on this poor author and feed her reviews... Please?**


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